Although for some time now many thought Merck was an easy short, given Vioxx and the large number of law suits and settlements before it, the company had a strategy in place to rise again. And, rise again it did. It fooled everyone as its stocks withstood the shocks and has been coming back ever since. Today, one has to have a head in the sand not to see the possibilities of this company – in spite of the suits still before it – AND its new directions, guaranteed to bring in big bucks for its shareholders.
One of these new directions, which is unfolding without a lot of fanfare, is Merck’s leadership among pharmaceuticals in the development of vaccines. Vaccines have been out of vogue for a half century, when polio, the flu, measles, mumps, rubella and the like were all developed. Now, some 50 years later, the field is reemerging as a new and major opportunity here and abroad in such areas as cancers, staph infections, diarrhea, and malaria. The fear of bioterrorism not only further fuels attention to vaccines today, it brings new monies and new opportunities. And, Merck is clearly in the leadership in developing and bringing to market new vaccines. Its most major success to date is its new breakthrough vaccine for cervical cancer. Many others are in the pipeline.
In 2007, Merck made as much from vaccines in the first six months as it did in all of 2006, with revenues from vaccines for the six months of almost $2 billion. It will do as well if not better the next six months, and the sky is the limit in the years ahead. Anyone counting Merck out needs to think again. The company is moving forward, big time.
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