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news.Helped by one-time gains resulting from its recent acquisition of Schering-Plough, Merck has reported a net income of $6.49bn for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to $1.64bn for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008.
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Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings were 79 cents per share. Revenue totaled $10.09bn in the quarter, an increase of 67%, compared to $6.03bn during the same period last year.
The rise in quarterly revenue was driven by good performance of its own drugs, including Januvia, Isentress, besides strong sales of Vytorin and Zetia, which were gained from Schering-Plough.
Richard Clark, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck, said: “The new Merck is off to an excellent start. Our performance last quarter was characterized by strong growth in key brands and continued investment in our newest products and promising late-stage pipeline.
“Each of our top 10 selling brands from an expanded product portfolio exceeded $1bn in annual sales. At the same time, we have a number of product launches underway in major global markets with more to come this year.”