Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) stock rose 0.087% (As on February 3, 11:06:46 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company forecast 2023 earnings below Wall Street estimates along with an expected steep decline in sales of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment. However, the U.S. drugmaker reported a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on strong sales of the COVID pill molnupiravir in Asia and its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.

MRK in the fourth quarter of FY 22 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.62, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $1.54. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 2 percent to $13.83 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 22, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $13.67 billion, according to Refinitiv data. The cancer immunotherapy Keytruda continues to grow, with fourth-quarter sales of $5.45 billion, up 19% from a year ago and roughly in line with analyst estimates. Molnupiravir sales were $825 million in the quarter, well over double analyst estimates of around $358 million. The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil had sales of $1.47 billion, slightly underperforming analyst expectations.

Merck forecast 2023 adjusted earnings of $6.80 to $6.95 per share, lower than analysts’ average estimate of $7.36. The forecast was impacted by a tax hit Merck will have to pay related to its $1.35 billion acquisition of cancer drug developer Imago BioSciences, the company said. The company also sees a steep decline ahead for molnupiravir sales in 2023, dropping to around $1 billion from $5.68 billion in 2022. It forecast 2023 sales of $57.2 to $58.7 billion, down from $59.3 billion last year.

On the other hand, KEYTRUDA approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as adjuvant treatment following resection and platinum-based chemotherapy for adult patients with stage IB (T2a ≥4 centimeters), II, or IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the pivotal Phase 3 KEYNOTE-091 trial. In collaboration with Moderna, Inc. (Moderna), positive topline results from the Phase 2b KEYNOTE-942/mRNA-4157-P201 trial, which showed that KEYTRUDA in combination with mRNA-4157/V940, an investigational personalized mRNA therapeutic cancer vaccine, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival versus KEYTRUDA alone for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III/IV melanoma following complete resection.