Merck & Co. (MSD)
Merck & Co. (MSD) makes Keytruda, the world's best-selling cancer drug, and is now building the next act around TROP2 ADCs and personalised vaccines.
Overview
Pembrolizumab anchors >40 indications. Post-2028 patent-cliff strategy: sacituzumab tirumotecan (Kelun licence, >10 phase 3 trials), ifinatamab/patritumab/raludotatug deruxtecan (Daiichi Sankyo alliance, up to $22B), intismeran autogene (Moderna), zilovertamab vedotin, belzutifan, and a PD-1×VEGF bispecific (LaNova).
Scorecard
All companies- approved products +18
- phase 1/2 +1
- targets +4
- modalities +8
- regions +6
- 24-month regulatory events +10
- registry trials +30
- Total revenue
- $64.2bn
- R&D spend
- $17.9bn
- Cash
- $13.2bn
Catalysts
Catalyst calendar- 2027expectedIDeate-Lung02: ifinatamab deruxtecan versus chemotherapy, relapsed small-cell lung cancer
Pivotal phase 3 for the B7-H3 ADC from the Merck and Daiichi Sankyo collaboration. Timing is a registry-based estimate. Source
- 2027expectedREJOICE-Ovarian01: raludotatug deruxtecan in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer
Phase 2/3 for the CDH6 ADC. Timing is a registry-based estimate. Source
- 2027expectedRegulatory filings for intismeran autogene plus pembrolizumab in adjuvant melanoma (INTerpath-001)
The sponsors said filings would follow the positive topline result of August 2026 and the full data presentation. Timing is our estimate. Source
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
Olaparib was the first PARP inhibitor, and turned an inherited BRCA mutation from a risk factor into a drug target, including after surgery in breast cancer.
The only chemotherapy proven to extend life in glioblastoma, given during and after radiation. It works best when the tumour has switched off a repair gene called MGMT.
A drug that homes to the scaffolding cells tumours build around themselves, carrying a radioactive metal that fires alpha particles over a very short range. A matching scan version shows first whether a patient's tumour has the target.
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