BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: MERCK AND PFIZER

Pharmaceutical Giants Continue to Outperform Wall Street Projections While Increasing Drug Prices

This week, two brand name pharmaceutical giants, Merck and Pfizer, reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations. Like Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and AbbVie, the brand name drug makers reported strong earnings following continued price hikes on their blockbuster drugs.

Merck

• Merck reported fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that topped Wall Street expectations, sharing strong sales from its top-selling cancer drug Keytruda, other oncology medicines and the company’s recently launched cardiovascular treatment known as Winrevair.
• In Q4, the drug company brought in $15.6 billion in sales, a seven percent increase from the same quarter in 2023 and beating analysts’ expectations of $15.4 billion.
• Keytruda earned a reported $7.8 billion in sales for the drug in the fourth quarter. 

Pfizer

• Pfizer beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations for Q4, with reported revenue at $17.8 billion, marking a 21 percent increase from the same quarter in 2023.
• Blood thinner Eliquis helped drive sales with a total of $1.83 billion in revenue, up 14 percent from the same period last year.
• The company’s heart disease drug Vyndaqel brought in $1.55 billion, beating expectations of $1.48 billion.
• Pfizer increased its profit guidance due to its strong Q4 earnings.

These Big Pharma giants’ strong Q4 earnings reflect their continued practice of increasing prices on blockbuster drugs.

Merck

• This year, Merck has increased the cost of 16 of their prescription drugs.
• Merck hiked prices on 21 prescription products in its portfolio in January 2024, including price hikes on 20 drugs outpacing the rate of inflation.
• Merck kicked off 2023 by raising prices on more than 20 prescription drugs, including blockbuster diabetes medicines Januvia and Janumet by 4.9 percent each.
• In December 2022, Merck announced plans to seek new patents on Keytruda to expand its existing patent thicket on the drug and further extend its monopoly power by blocking competition.

Pfizer

• Since January 2025, there have been 77 prescription drug price increases.
• Pfizer hiked prices on more than 100 prescription drugs in 2024.
• In 2024, price hikes included a six percent increase on breast cancer drug IBRANCE, a seven percent increase on cardiomyopathy drug Vyndaqel and a 4.9 percent increase on arthritis drug Xeljanz.
• In 2023, Pfizer hiked drug prices on more than 120 medications and in 2022 the company hiked prices on more than 160 prescriptions in their portfolio.

Read more on Q4 earnings from Johnson & Johnson HERE.

Read more on Q4 earnings from AbbVie, Novartis and Roche HERE.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor fourth quarter earnings calls from brand name drug companies in the coming weeks.

Learn more about solutions to lower prescription drug prices and hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.

###