US Lab Sales Merck jumped in the first quarter, boosted by its new anti-Covid treatment molnupiravir, which he sold for $3.2 billion, and his cancer drug Keytruda. Revenue for the company, known as MSD outside North America, rose 50% over the period to $15.9 billion. Net profit soared 57% to $4.2 billion.
The pill against Covid-19 of the group, which received the first green lights from the authorities at the end of 2021 and is distributed under the name Lagrevio, has become the second best-selling product by Merck. The laboratory shares the profits with Ridgeback, with whom it developed the product. In the first quarter, the pill was mainly sold in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia. The treatment is now available in 30 countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended it in early March for patients with Covid-19 who are still mild but who are at high risk of hospitalization, especially the elderly. However, she added in mid-April that for this category, paxlovid, the antiviral from the American pharmaceutical group Pfizer, should be favored over Merck’s molnupiravir, Gilead’s remdesivir or monoclonal antibodies.
Merck has slightly lowered its sales forecast for molnupiravir for the full year, to a range between 5 and 5.5 billion (…)
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