Merck announced its third-quarter results on Thursday, with both revenue and adjusted profits exceeding expectations. The company also raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast due to the strong sales of its immunotherapy Keytruda, including the newer injectable formulation of this drug.

The pharmaceutical giant currently expects that the adjusted earnings per share will be between $2.77 and $2.82, higher than the previous range of $2.66 to $2.76. The new profit forecast includes a one-time expense of $400 million, equivalent to 12 cents per share, which is related to its licensing agreement with the Chinese anti-cancer drug company SinoBiotech ( SciBrunch ).

Merck also narrowed the lower end of its revenue guidance for 2026, now expecting sales to be between $66.8 billion and $67.3 billion; previously, the forecast was between $66.3 billion and $67.3 billion.

As key patents are set to expire starting in 2028, the company has been actively making deals to counteract the competition from generic drugs faced by Keytruda.

Merck is also positioning the new formulation of this drug, Keytruda Qlex, as the core of its growth strategy. The company's goal is to transition patients from the original intravenous injection version to Qlex, which is a more convenient subcutaneous injection formulation. This strategy will help the company maintain its market share and continue to sustain the strong sales of Keytruda even after the original drug loses its exclusivity.

According to the data from StreetAccount, Keytruda achieved sales of $8.6 billion this quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $7.73 billion. Among them, Qlex contributed $830 million in sales, marking the highest single-quarter figure for this product since its launch in 2025.

According to StreetAccount, analysts originally expected the sales revenue for Qlex to be $649 million. This injectable formulation has performed strongly this quarter, indicating that it may soon become a blockbuster product, with annual sales expected to exceed $1 billion.

The following is a comparison of Merck & Co.'s third-quarter performance with Wall Street's expectations, with data from a survey of analysts conducted by LSEG.

• Earnings per share: $2.49 after adjustment, expected to be $2.08
• Revenue: $1.809 billion, expected to be $1.731 billion

The company's net profit for this quarter was $5.07 billion, which is $2.04 per share; in the same period last year, the net profit was $5.79 billion, which is $2.32 per share.

Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, Merck's earnings per share for the third quarter were $2.49.

This quarter, Merck's revenue was $18.09 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%.

Apart from Keytruda, Merck's other newer products have also shown strong growth.

Winrevair, used to treat a rare and fatal lung disease, had sales of $694 million this quarter, a year-on-year increase of 93%; analysts had previously expected sales to be $645 million.

Meanwhile, the sales of the Gardasil vaccine this quarter amounted to approximately $2 billion, thanks to the increasing demand in the United States. This figure is higher than the analysts' forecast of $1.76 billion.

This strong revenue performance occurred despite Merck still dealing with high inventory levels of Gardasil last year, as well as weak demand for the vaccine in China.

In addition, Merck's animal health business reported sales of $1.68 billion in the third quarter, which was slightly lower than analysts' estimates.