Replies to post #19871 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

China approves MRK’s Keytruda in first-line NSCLC:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191126005394/en

Please see #msg-151966938 for related info.

[DewDiligence]

MRK CEO on JPM webcast: Keytruda and Gardasil will continue strong growth in China even without inclusion in the NDRL (government reimbursement) list. Gardasil sales (worldwide) are constrained by production capacity, not demand.

[DewDiligence]

MRK will spinoff women’s health, off-patent brands, and biosimilars into new (as yet unnamed) company:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/merck-focus-key-growth-pillars-114500519.html

The spinoff is expected to have ~$6.5B of annual sales (~15% of existing MRK), of which 75% will be ex-US. The spinoff is expected to occur in 1H21.