While the company’s sales outlook was otherwise rosy, Merck took sales hits on Gardisil, Proquad, Varivax and Vaxneuvance.
The woes for Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil continued as sales dropped 25% worldwide in the third quarter, driven by continued low demand in China and declines in uptake in the U.S.
Merck executives, speaking during a third quarter earnings call on Thursday, also noted the expiration of a “catch-up” reimbursement program in Japan and potential challenges ahead from U.S. vaccine recommendations.
“There are some macro factors there,” Caroline Litchfield, Merck’s CFO, said of the U.S. market on the call. She cited recommendations that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) could make down the line potentially affecting future sales. ACIP had scheduled a vote on changing HPV vaccine guidelines this summer but ultimately delayed that vote.
Sales of the company’s MMRV vaccine Proquad, the MMR vaccine M-M-R II and the chicken pox vaccine Varivax were also down 3% due to lower demand in the U.S. Sales of the pneumococcal vaccine Vaxneuvance, were also down 6%, though the company noted that this was offset by CDC stockpiling the vaccine, as well as the preventative RSV antibody drug Enflonsia.
Other large manufacturers like Sanofi and GSK have reported drops in vaccine sales this quarter, citing declining U.S. demand and other “macro factors.”
Merck’s executives declined to provide much detail on negotiations with the White House on a Most Favored Nation drug pricing agreement. Peers AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Amgen have already announced deals with the president.
“We’re aligned with what the administration is trying to achieve, which is to lower the out-of-pocket costs for patients at the pharmacy counter, and at the same time to get foreign prices up,” Merck CEO Robert Davis said on the call.
Merck’s earnings bounced back in the third quarter after a small 2% dip in the second. Worldwide earnings were $17.3 billion, up 4% from the same quarter the previous year.
Sales of Winrevair, the company’s pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment, grew 141% to $360 million, up from $149 million in the third quarter of 2024. Sales of the blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda were up 8% to $8.1 billion from $7.4 billion in the same quarter last year. Long the best-selling drug in pharma, Keytruda for the first time fell behind, as Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide franchise outperformed expectations this quarter.
