Stock Watch: Merck And Pfizer Reclaim Pharmaceutical Defensiveness

Different Post-Pandemic Narratives, But Similar Full-Year Guidance Increases

Merck grew sales, increased financial guidance and beat analysts’ expectations, noting a base business recovery from the pandemic. Pfizer increased guidance and beat expectations for different reasons.

Stock Watch Image, Andy Smith
ANDY SMITH OFFERS A LIFE SCIENCE INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON BIOPHARMA BUSINESS

After the first two weeks of third-quarter earnings season the robust sales growth in difficult economic times that underpins the defensiveness of the pharmaceutical sector was looking distinctly fragile. But then Merck & Co., Inc. and Pfizer Inc.* reported their results.

Merck’s third-quarter sales grew by nearly 14% on the same quarter of 2021 and further demonstrated a momentum that had...

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Scrip-Business (Free-1): Top-Selling Drugs 2024: Keytruda, Ozempic And Dupixent Dominate

 
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Merck’s immuno-oncology blockbuster was the world’s best-selling drugs by revenues for the second year in a row, with an almost $12bn lead over its closest rival, Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drug Ozempic.

Stock Watch: When Development Goes Too Far

 
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R&D managers can sometimes drive a drug’s development despite evidence of its unviability. This has recently resulted in a scramble to adjust in-progress trial protocol and post-approval cost-effectiveness concerns.

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As the pharma earnings season wrapped up, it seemed like a contest to see which company's stock price dropped the most after their announcement and which made the poorest acquisition.

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