Merck tops Q3 forecasts, as health systems adapt to COVID-19

By TOM MURPHY
AP Health Writer

The blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda and the vaccine Gardasil pushed Merck well past Wall Street’s third-quarter expectations, even as COVID-19 sapped demand for another vaccine. The drugmaker said Thursday that sales of its pneumonia vaccine, Pneumovax 23, tumbled 26% in the quarter to $277 million. That was mainly because people in the United States prioritized preventive shots guarding against COVID-19. But revenue from top seller Keytruda jumped 22% to $4.5 billion, and sales of Gardasil vaccines against cancer-causing human papilloma virus infections soared 68% to nearly $2 billion. The drugmaker’s overall performance topped expectations, and it raised its 2021 forecast.