Drugmaker Merck's quarterly profit beats as Keytruda sales surge

(Reuters) - Drugmaker Merck & Co topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Friday as sales of blockbuster cancer drug nearly doubled and the company raised its full-year profit outlook.

Sales of Keytruda rose 89.2 percent to $1.67 billion, edging past sales of its rival immunotherapy Opdivo made by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Merck's total sales rose 5.4 percent to $10.47 billion.

The company now expects full-year adjusted profit forecast to be between $4.22 and $4.30 per share, up from prior guidance of between $4.16 and $4.28 per share.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $1.71 billion, or 63 cents per share, in the second quarter, from $1.95 billion, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier.

 

Excluding items, the company earned $1.06 per share, ahead of the average analyst estimate of $1.03 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)