Transcript
Introduction
Zack
I'm Zack Fuss, and today we are breaking down one of the world's largest and oldest pharmaceutical companies, Merck. The company has been shaping medicine and fostering innovation for over 130 years. From its humble beginnings as a small family pharmacy in Germany, today's iteration of Merck has transformed into a near $300 billion market cap business with a particular strength in oncology.
At the heart of Merck's recent success is Keytruda, arguably the world's most important cancer drug. This single medication now generates over $25 billion in annual revenue and comprises nearly 50% of Merck's total revenue. The future of Merck will be highly dependent upon its ability to navigate an ensuing patent cliff for Keytruda in 2028 by successfully commercializing combination therapies and via a robust R&D and M&A pipeline.