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After ranking as the third-best-performing pharma in the third quarter, Amgen has now shared its financial results for the three-month period, which handily surpassed analyst expectations (see – Vital Signs: Top performers of the third quarter).Buoyed by strong sales from cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha, as well as lung cancer treatment Imdelltra and autoimmune disease therapy Uplizna, Amgen reported third-quarter revenues of $10.4 billion, up 8% year-over-year and ahead of the Street's $10.1-billion forecast. Its adjusted earnings climbed 14% to $6.45 per share, topping consensus estimates of $5.79. The drugmaker's quarterly results prompted it to bump up its full-year outlook; it now expects adjusted earnings of $22.90 to $23.70 per share on revenues of $38.9 billion to $39.7 billion. Amgen previously guided for its 2026 revenues to fall between $38.2 billion and $39.4 billion, with earnings in the range of $22.30 to $23.50 per share.Despite the beat-and-raise quarter, Amgen's shares fell about 1.5% during after-hours trade on Tuesday.Sales breakdownRepatha, an injectable PCSK9 inhibitor, continued to be Amgen's best-selling product. Despite competition from Merck & Co.'s oral PCSK9 inhibitor Lipfendra, Repatha's sales increased 37% to $1.09 billion, edging out estimates of $1.04 billion. On the company's second-quarter earnings call, management was unfazed by Lipfendra's potential to steal market share away from Repatha, and their bullish sentiment seemed to hold true for the third quarter. Uplizna had the largest year-over-year sales increase, soaring 191% to $451 million, while revenue from Imdelltra jumped 128% to $406 million. The cancer drug recently impressed at last month's European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress. In the Phase III DeLLphi-305 study, Imdelltra plus AstraZeneca's Imfinzi as a first-line maintenance regimen for patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer cut the risk of death by 58%.Apar Ganti — a professor of medical oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and associate director of clinical research at the school's Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center — described the results as "unprecedented," telling FirstWord, "Large academic centres will be champing at the bit to treat their next patient with this regimen." For more from that interview, see – KOL Views Q&A: SCLC maintenance win for Amgen's Imdelltra too strong to ignore even for logistical holdouts.Other products with year-over-year growth include Evenity (+39%, $751 million), Krystexxa (+31%, $419 million), Tezspire (+43%, $538 million) and Blincyto (+27%, $496 million), while quarterly sales for osteoporosis drug Prolia fell 45% to $632 million, missing analyst expectations of $697 million.

iStock, z_wei On its third-quarter earnings investor call Thursday morning, Merck executives touted recent pipeline wins alongside a strong performance for subcutaneous Keytruda and pulmonary arterial hypertension drug Winrevair that drove the pharma’s overall sales expectations to surpass expectations. Facing patent expiries for its blockbuster cancer therapy Keytruda, Merck will lean into its existing pipeline and portfolio to offset the looming loss of revenue, while also keeping an eye out for potential business development opportunities. “For 2027, we see it as another year of investment as we invest behind our expansive pipeline and our new product launches to drive long-term growth,” Chief Financial Officer Caroline Litchfield said during an investor call Thursday morning. At the same time, she added, “business development remains an important priority, and we retain financial flexibility within a strong investment-grade credit rating to pursue additional science-driven value-enhancing transactions.” Merck CEO Robert Davis, for his part, expressed optimism that Merck will weather the impending Keytruda cliff. “As we look across the portfolio, I feel very good about where we are and our ability to navigate the Keytruda LOE,” he said during the same call, highlighting “recent positive clinical readouts” that support the company’s plans. Leerink Partners agreed with the executives’ assessment, with an eye toward more clinical data yet to come. Merck’s pipeline is “progressing well as we near the Keytruda LoE, in our view, with important Ph3 readouts across oncology, immunology and infectious diseases expected in the next six months,” Leerink Partners wrote in a Thursday morning note. Another key attraction on Thursday’s call was Merck’s investigational anti-TL1A antibody tulisokibart, for which it reported a Phase 3 win in ulcerative colitis in June and expects to share data details for soon. The company is also expecting Phase 2 results for the asset in rheumatoid arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis. Meanwhile, in the cardiovascular and respiratory space, Merck will present results from a Phase 2b trial in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) at the upcoming American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) conference next month. For now, with Keytruda still raking it in as the industry’s best-selling drug , Merck reported $18.1 billion in third-quarter revenue, solidly beating analyst expectations. Guggenheim had projected between $17.44 billion and $17.34 billion. Cancer ESMO 2026: Merck’s Kelun-partnered ADC cuts death risk by over 30% in endometrial cancer Sac-TMT significantly extended overall and progression-free survival for patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer by 6.9 months over chemotherapy in a Phase 3 trial—becoming the first TROP2-directed ADC to do so in this setting, Merck told BioSpace. October 26, 2026 · 4 min read · Heather McKenzie Read more Merck’s Q3 earnings come on the heels of the 2026 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting in Madrid, where the company showcased its Kelun-Biotech–partnered TROP-2 directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) across a range of late-stage studies. Davis highlighted “potential practice-changing advances” from Merck’s expansive sac-TMT program, calling out “the first positive Phase 3 results” for sac-TMT in advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. The drug cut the risk of death by more than 30% in the Phase 3 TroFuse-005 trial, which met all of its primary and secondary endpoints. Based on these data, the FDA has accepted an application for sac-TMT in the indication for priority review, with a target action date of June 15. Despite the early summer PDUFA date for sac-TMT, Merck “is in discussions with the FDA and is hopeful for an earlier approval,” Leerink said in a Thursday morning note to investors, adding that this could be helped by a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) granted to the ADC last year, “though it’s unclear to us whether the CNPV is still active after Commissioner Makary’s departure from FDA.” Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories, also addressed the TroFuse program. “First, we are moving with speed and rigor to establish early leadership in multiple disease and treatment settings,” he said on the investor call. “Many of these first mover opportunities are in gynecologic cancers, where there remains significant unmet need.” That said, Li added that Merck also plans to “go quite aggressively” in lung cancer with sacTMT. Also at ESMO, Merck and partner Moderna shared detailed data from the successful Phase 3 trial of their personalized cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene. While Merck in its corporate presentation noted a planned regulatory submission for intismeran autogene, the company did not provide specific timing for the application. Cancer ESMO 2026: Analysts warm to Merck, Moderna’s cancer vaccine after frustrating data leak After sitting through the full presentation on the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial at the ESMO Congress over the weekend, analysts are more keen on the personalized mRNA cancer vaccine data that last week spurred a stock selloff for both partners. October 26, 2026 · 3 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read more Outside of oncology, analysts were looking for updates on Merck’s recently approved Lipfendra for high LDL cholesterol. Litchfield said that, while it’s still early, Merck is encouraged by the drug’s initial launch, and that “prescription trends and physician feedback has been positive.” By the numbers The $18.1 billion reported by Merck for the third quarter represented 5% growth year-over-year for the company, according to its earnings announcement . Merck highlighted two products as posting particularly strong sales in Q3. Keytruda QLEX—a subcutaneous version of the blockbuster immunotherapy approved in September 2025—brought in $830 million in the quarter, an uptake rate that “appears to surpass Street expectations,” BMO said. Meanwhile, sales of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) medicine Winrevair grew 93% to $694 million, beating analyst estimates by 7%. BMO Capital Markets similarly attributed Merck’s “solid” performance in part to “faster-than-expected Keytruda Qlex conversions (+15% vs. consensus)” and the continued expansion of Winrevair. Last month, the FDA updated Winrevair’s label to incorporate positive results from Merck’s Phase 3 HYPERION study in adults with newly diagnosed PAH on background therapy, potentially expanding the drug into an earlier treatment market. Looking ahead, Merck raised its full-year 2026 sales guidance slightly from between $66.3 billion to $67.3 billion to $66.8 billion to $67.3 billion.