Merck & Co shares suffer on 2020 sales and profit warning

28 April 2020

US drug giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) was trading 3% lower after two hours of trading on Tuesday.

Merck lowered its revenue and profit estimates for 2020 in presenting its first quarter financial results.

Sales for the quarter were actually up 11% compared to the same period of 2019, at $12.06 billion, beating estimates of $11.46 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. A major reason for this was a 45% rise in revenue from the immuno-oncology drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab), with its sales bringing in $3.28 billion.

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