Healthcare · Profile from Healthcare Research Companion
Merck & Co., Inc.
The New Jersey drugmaker (MSD outside the US and Canada) known for a science-first culture, the free donation of Mectizan against river blindness, and the Vioxx withdrawal that became the industry's defining drug-safety scandal. Merck's twenty-first-century fortunes rest on Keytruda, an anti-PD-1 cancer immunotherapy it inherited almost by accident through the 2009 Schering-Plough merger and turned into the world's best-selling drug (~$31.7bn in 2025). Its strategic problem for 2026–30 is replacing Keytruda before US exclusivity begins to end in 2028, and it is attacking that problem with a subcutaneous reformulation, a reorganisation that puts oncology in its own unit, and more than $40bn of acquisitions since 2021.
At a glance
- Founded
- US company incorporated 1891 as the American branch of Germany's E. Merck (Darmstadt, founded 1668); seized as enemy property in 1917 and sold to the public in 1919; merged with Sharp & Dohme in 1953
- Founders
- George Merck (grandson of Heinrich Emanuel Merck); George W. Merck led it 1925–50
- Headquarters
- Rahway, New Jersey (moved from Kenilworth, 2023)
- Ownership / structure
- Public company, NYSE: MRK; known as MSD outside the US and Canada; unrelated to today's Merck KGaA except in history
- Leadership (2026)
- Robert (Rob) Davis, Chairman, CEO and President (CEO since July 2021); Caroline Litchfield, EVP and CFO (since April 2021); Dean Li, EVP and President, Merck Research Laboratories (since 2021); Jannie Oosthuizen (oncology unit) and Brian Foard (specialty, pharma and infectious diseases unit), from February 2026
- Segments
- Pharmaceutical (split from February 2026 into an oncology unit and a specialty, pharma and infectious-diseases unit) and Animal Health (~$6.4bn in 2025)
- Payer and patient
- Medicare Part B (Keytruda) and Part D, commercial plans, Medicaid, CDC and state vaccine programmes, foreign governments; from 2026 a small cash channel through TrumpRx (Januvia family)
- Scale
- 2025 sales $65.0bn (+1%, reported); Keytruda $31.7bn (~49% of sales); ~75,000 employees (end-2024 and 2025, reported); 2026 guidance $65.5–67bn (February), raised to $66.8–67.3bn (29 October 2026)
- Capital / market cap
- Market cap roughly ~$190–330bn in 2024–26 (low in 2025 on the Gardasil and Keytruda-cliff discount, recovering in 2026); funds deals from cash and debt
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Medco PBM (1993–2003); Mectizan donation (1987); Vioxx launch and withdrawal (1999–2004) and $4.85bn settlement; Gardasil (2006) and the China collapse (2024–26); Schering-Plough merger (2009); Keytruda (2014); Organon spin-off (2021); pipeline buying for the Keytruda cliff (Prometheus, Verona, Cidara, Terns, 2023–26); subcutaneous Keytruda Qlex (2025)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1993
Medco PBM Acquisition
Acquisition (vertical integration into pharmacy benefits), reversed by spin-off in 2003
2004
Vioxx Withdrawal
Recall (voluntary market withdrawal) and litigation
2006
Gardasil Launch
Launch (new vaccine category), later a market collapse in China
2009
Schering Plough Merger
Merger (structured as a "reverse merger")
2014
Keytruda Approval
Launch (accelerated approval, then rapid indication expansion)
2021
Organon Spin Off
Spin-off
2023
Pipeline Buying for Keytruda Cliff
Acquisition (a programme of deals)
2025
Subcutaneous Keytruda and LOE Defense
Launch / lifecycle management