Sales in 2023 should now come out at 57.7 to 58.9 billion US dollars, as the US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co announced on Thursday. Management had previously announced a decline to between 57.2 and 58.7 billion dollars after almost 59.3 billion dollars had been achieved in 2022, also thanks to the strong growth of the corona drug Lagevrio. In the first quarter, strong cancer business and a sharp increase in demand for the HPV vaccine Gardasil gave the Americans a boost. The group was thus able to dampen sales losses at Lagevrio more than expected on the market.
First-quarter revenue ultimately fell 9 percent to about $14.5 billion, while adjusted earnings per share (EPS) fell more than a third to $1.40. For the year as a whole, it should now be between 6.88 and 7.00 dollars per share.
The bottom line was that the group made a good $2.8 billion in profit in the three months to the end of March, which was 35 percent less than a year ago.
In NYSE trading, Merck & Co shares temporarily gained 1.49 percent to $115.12.
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