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Biotech / Medical : Merck -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doc Bones who wrote (1534)	7/23/2007 4:10:46 PM
From: mopgcw	Respond to of 1580

mstar: Merck MRK generated another strong quarter, with total sales growth of 6%, despite generic Zocor competition. The solid performance was driven by more than $1 billion in vaccine sales in the second quarter. Gardasil, the new human papillomavirus vaccine, registered $358 million in sales, and we believe it is poised for further strong growth. Combined sales of Zetia and Vytorin continued to post impressive growth, at 30%, which should alleviate some concern that the increasingly generic statin market has hurt all branded cholesterol drugs. Singulair sales also helped the top line by gaining 15%, to $1.1 billion. The strong results enabled Merck to increase its projected full-year earnings 9%, and we would not be surprised if further upward revisions come later in the year. Merck took an additional reserve of $210 million for Vioxx legal defense costs. We view the increasing legal reserves as a sign that the company faces a long road ahead in Vioxx litigation and future increases in defense costs are likely. Damien Conover