Net income fell to $895 million in the third quarter of 2014, compared to $1.12 billion in the third quarter in 2013.
The pharmaceutical business reported a 4% drop in sales to $9.1 billion in the third quarter of 2014, compared with roughly $9.4 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Merck said it lost market exclusivity for chemotherapy drug Temodar—sales declined 46% to $88 million—and Singulair, which reported a 22% drop in revenue to $218 million.
It also reported lower sales of its hepatitis products due to the recent approval of new drugs. Revenue for Pegintron dropped by 19% to $84 million, while sales of Victrelis went down 78% to $27 million. Earlier this year, Merck said it would spend $3.8 billion to buy Idenix Pharmaceuticals, which is developing new treatments for hepatitis C.
Sales of Gardasil, the company's HPV vaccine, dropped 11% to $590 million because it had received fewer purchases from the public health sector in the U.S.
But its top-selling drug franchise, which is made up of Januvia and Janumet, which both help reduce blood sugar in patients with Type 2 diabetes, saw sales go up by 5% to $1.4 billion in the third quarter. Revenue for Remicade, which is commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, also rose 5% during the same three months, to $604 million.
The consumer-care divestiture to Bayer closed Oct. 1. Merck in May had announced it would sell the business, which includes allergy medicine Claritin and the sunscreen brand Coppertone, to Bayer for $14.2 billion. Sales in this business for the quarter fell 9% to $401 million.
Merck's “other revenues” business unit reported a 56% decrease in sales to $137 million in the third quarter. The company attributed the decline to AstraZeneca's decision to buy out Merck's interest in a joint venture that manufacturers Nexium and Prilosec.
The company said it expects revenue in 2014 between $42.4 billion and $42.8 billion.
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