Merck & Co turnover up 13% but Vioxx sales are slowing down

Merck & Co has posted a 13% increase in turnover to $11.92 billion forthe third quarter of 2001, while net income climbed 6% to $1.95 billion or $0.84 per share (+8%). In terms of drug sales, growth was driven by the firm's "big five" which now account for two-thirds of its human health sales.

Turnover of the lipid-lowerer Zocor (simvastatin) rose 28% to $1.70 billion, helped in part by the withdrawal of Bayer's rival product Baycol/Lipobay (cerivastatin; Marketletters passim), while the antihypertensives Cozaar (losartan) and Hyzaar (losartan plus hydrochlorothiazide) increased 33% to $540 million, "despite intense competition." Fosamax (alendronate), for postmenopausal osteoporosis, was up 25% to $450 million.

The other big earner for Merck was Vioxx (rofecoxib), which the firm says is the only COX-2 selective agent in the USA indicated for both osteoarthritis and acute pain, and achieved sales of $795 million for the quarter, an increase of 29% on the like, year-earlier period. However, this compares to 53% growth in the previous quarter, and Merck noted that Vioxx sales in 2001 will be around $2.5-$2.7 billion, down from an earlier forecast of $3.5 billion.