Merck Raises Sales Forecast on Strong Earnings Report

Merck raised its sales forecast for several key products during its second quarter earnings call this week, while posting strong sales for its first-in-class dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor Januvia and solid growth for cholesterol treatments Zetia and Vytorin.

The company raised its annual sales forecast for its vaccine franchise by $600 million to a range of $3.9 billion to $4.3 billion, the firm said. The franchise includes Gardasil (quadrivalent human papillomavirus [Types 6, 11, 16, 18] recombinant vaccine), RotaTeq (rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, pentavalent) and shingles vaccine Zostavax (zoster vaccine, live), as well as other vaccines.

During the second quarter of 2007, Gardasil, RotaTeq and Zostavax generated $500 million in sales, while the vaccine unit had $1 billion in total sales. However, sales of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil declined $7 million to $358 million during the second quarter of 2007 compared with the first quarter.

Forecasts for allergy medicine Singulair (montelukast sodium) and hypertension treatment Cozaar (losartan potassium) were each increased by $100 million to a range of $4 billion to $4.3 billion and $3.2 billion to $3.5 billion, respectively. The outlook for osteoporosis treatment Fosamax (alendronate sodium) was increased $200 million to a range of $2.8 billion to $3.1 billion, the company said.

Overall, Merck raised its sales forecast by more than $1 billion as the firm reported strong results for Januvia (sitagliptin). The product had $144 million in sales during the quarter, representing a 65 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007.