Merck Q2 results: income up, revenue down

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. Merck’s second quarter results were based on a net income that rose by 5 percent to $1.77 billion, due to more use of its diabetes medication Januvia as well as added revenue outside the U.S., according to Bloomberg. Revenue, however, fell by 1 percent to $6 billion.

Drug sales fell for many of Merck’s popular drugs during the quarter. Sales of Vytorin and Zetia, a component of Vytorin, fell 9 percent to $1.2 billion. In the previous quarter Merck said sales of the drugs, which were $5 billion last year, would fall 15 percent this year. This was due to the results of the ENHANCE trial, which stated that Vytorin was no better at fighting atherosclerosis than Zocor, the other component of Vytorin alone. Sales though should continue to slide after just this week, the results of a trial called SEAS showed that Vytorin.

Results of the SEAS study showed the drug didn’t have an impact on a rare heart valve disorder called aortic stenosis and found a doubling in the incidents of cancer.

The vaccine Gardasil, which is designed to prevent infection from the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, a cause of cervical cancer generated $326 million worldwide in the quarter, a 9 percent decrease from a year earlier.