Earnings
Third-quarter revenues for antiviral treatment Paxlovid dropped 97% operationally compared with the prior-year period, while vaccine Comirnaty revenues declined 70% in the quarter.
In its third-quarter results Tuesday, Amgen announced a $650 million write-down after discontinuing AMG 340, a prostate cancer candidate acquired in the $900 million buy of Tenobio in 2021.
Merck and Novartis beat expectations this week with solid third-quarter financial results, while BMS, Sanofi and Takeda spooked investors with negative near- and mid-term projections.
The French drugmaker’s shares dropped more than 15% Friday morning on the announcement that it has abandoned its goal of a 32% operating profit margin for 2025, focusing on long-term profitability.
The company’s blockbuster cancer asset Keytruda brought in more than $6.3 billion in the third quarter, a 17% increase from the same period last year, while bolstering its antibody-drug conjugate portfolio.
The company on Thursday said it now expects more than $10 billion in new product sales in 2026, despite previously forecasting $10 billion to $13 billion in 2025.
Attributing losses to exchange rate and pipeline impairment losses, the Japanese biopharma dropped its reported net profit forecast of 142 billion yen ($945.1 million) to 93 billion yen ($618.8 million).
The Swiss pharma reported a 12% sales increase and 21% core operating growth for the third quarter on Tuesday, while raising its full-year earnings forecast for the third time.
While Merck lost out to Pfizer earlier this year in snapping up Seagen, this week the company closed a deal worth a potential $22 billion with Daiichi Sankyo—further evidence of the industry’s insatiable appetite for ADC technology.
The contracting COVID-19 market has led to lower third-quarter sales for the Swiss drugmaker, which made the decision to eliminate four clinical programs following underwhelming readouts.
PRESS RELEASES