Group 8 ACG5065(O2MBAS19)
Merck & Co. Vs. Competitors
Merck & Co., founded in 1891 as the United States subsidiary of the German company, Merck, is a pharmaceutical manufacturer headquartered out of Kenilworth, NJ. It employs approximately 68,000 people, and manufactures medications used in diabetes, infectious diseases, and oncology along with multiple kinds of vaccines. Merck & Co. (MRK) is a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. In studying MRK’s strength in the industry, we selected GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, two established companies, as benchmarks to determine MRK’s competitiveness. For the analysis, we will give a brief history of the companies. After the background, we will examine their FY2016 statements using key
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Unlike the others, MRK also makes products for animal health. Compared to AZ and GSK, MRK had fewer drugs come off patent in 2016, which helped them maintain strong sales revenue. The introduction of MRK’s novel cancer agent, Keytruda, was an advantage as it was the first drug of its kind. Keytruda came to market in 2015. In 2016, its sales increased 148% from the previous year to $1.4 billion. It is projected to continually increase in profit in the next five years as it becomes more established in the market.
One of Merck’s disadvantages is that they will lose some of their exclusivity in the market as several patents expire in 2017. The drugs coming off patent include: InVanz, a commonly used antibiotic in hospitals; Dulera, a respiratory drug; and Zetia and Vytorin, drugs commonly used in cardiovascular diseases. As generic drugs are introduced, other companies will be able to produce them and drive down the price.
Analysis of Companies Financial Statements
MRK is the largest of its competitors with assets of $95.3 billion, while GSK and AZ have about half of that at $59 billion and $50.6 billion, respectively. MRK’s total current debt is a third of AZ’s and an eighth of GSK’s. The balance sheet also reveals that MRK has 40 times as much stockholders’ equity in comparison to GSK and four times that of AZ. Since MRK doesn’t have much tied up in liabilities, it means that they are more liquid. MRK’s liquidity allows them to reward their
Many other drugs also lose patent protection leading to the creation of substitutes that are cheaper.
Those target markets who rely on Johnson & Johnson health and medical needs are mostly patients, doctors, nurses and civilians. Therefore, the company need to sustain their products and services over all these years to ensure that lower income people and underprivileged patients are able to access on their medicines. This however requires the company to balance patient’s access and competitive dynamics in line with their need as the company need to have enough resources to keep on being innovating, creating new and better medicines and at the same time making sure there will be a fair return to the shareholder as well. Johnson & Johnson also work closely with the governments, physicians, non-government organizations and the international donors all around the world to provide its products within an affordable prices to its
In 2008, Johnson & Johnson was named the 3rd best performing stock on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It has uniquely positioned itself to remain a leader in a competitive industry against the rapidly changing backdrop of healthcare. The company’s main competitors are Eli Lilly, Novartis and
U.S. based companies hold rights to most of the world’s rights on new medicines and holds thousands of new products currently being developed. As of 2012, the industry helps support almost 3.4 million jobs in the U.S. economy. It is also one of the most heavily R&D based industries in the world. In the United States, the environment for pharmaceuticals is much friendlier than other countries around the world in terms of pricing ability and regulations. Both the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries have experienced significant growth in the past year with year-over-year increases of 13.02% and 34.69% respectively. It is an even more striking when looking at the past five years considering both have beat out the S&P 500 with pharmaceuticals increasing an additional 31.44% and the biotechnology sector besting an astonishing 269.3% more return than the
Pfizer is the largest American pharmaceutical company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It competes with Merck and Glaxo, and markets such well-known medications as Celebrex and Viagra. However, the pharmaceutical industry as a whole has undergone changes in recent years with significant consolidation taking place and with increased scrutiny regarding the ways in which drugs are developed, tested and marketed. In addition, recent controversies have erupted regarding Merck's drug Vioxx, and Pfizer has been the target of unwanted publicity regarding its painkiller Celebrex. This research considers the strategic position of Pfizer, including its strengths and weaknesses as well
The second rests in Pfizer’s expiring patents on several popular drugs that invite their competitors to enter the market with similarly performing pharmaceuticals. Once these patents expire, Pfizer will either have to extend the patent through reformulating the performance of the drug for another purpose called “ever greening”, or abandon the line in the pursuit of another, more profitable product. Regardless of what they do in terms of their own product offerings, generic imitations of their products will enter the market, diluting the profitability of the drug and forcing reliance on the sales of other existing products to make up the loss.
Merck will soon face many challenges in the business of producing drugs. The company's most popular drugs are coming to a close to their patent expiration. One of the best selling drugs is called Zocar, which is used for cholesterol problems. Zocar will have to soon face competition next June from other generic drug makers.
While some have identified Merck as a visionary company dedicated to a "core values and a sense of purpose beyond just making money" (Collins & Porras, 2002, p. 48), others point out corporate misdeeds perpetrated by Merck (e.g., its role in establishing a dubious medical journal that republished articles favorable to Merck products) as contradictory
Research and Development: Merck is a research-driven company that has a new research and development model incorporating its business strategy. Merck hopes to improve the success of is R&D and to reduce costs by focusing on therapeutic areas that have unmet medical needs, and scientific and commercial opportunity. It plans to develop products within these therapeutic areas that are highly valued by patients and doctors.
Since its humble beginning as a small drugstore, Merck has placed a large amount of importance on improving the health and well-being of its customers. As drug patents expire and genetic forms of their top products become available, Merck’s strategy is to do the unexpected; instead of raising the price of their older products in favor of patent protected new drugs, Merck focuses on reducing their cost in order to better compete with their generic counterparts. Additionally, Merck’s plan for growth now encompasses a much more aggressive pursuit of new drugs in their pipeline through extensive research. Merck became the second largest health care company in the world after the merger with Schering-Plough in 2009 and has
The costs of capital and capital structures for Pfizer Inc. and its two competitors Merck & Co. Inc. and Johnson & Johnson in the pharmaceutical industry are analyzed in this memo.
In the last several years, Merck’s individual R &D department has not been able to keep pace with declining revenues from existing products. It is only through Mergers and Acquisitions that Merck has supplemented this income.
Ratios aside, the patent of its older product (mainly Zyprexa) will expire in 2011. However, the increased in the newer products that accounts for total sales has increased to 24% from 18% in
GSK is the 2nd largest pharmaceutical firm in the world, and the largest in the UK by sales and profits, it is responsible for 7% of the worlds pharmaceutical market, and has its stocks listed both in UK and US (O 'Rourke, 2002). The origin of the so called blockbuster model, is partly linked with Glaxo (as it was previously known). In the early 80’s, then Glaxo brought to light their first blockbuster drug, Zantac, which was an anti-ulcer drug, which was very similar to the a pre existing drug Tagamet (first ever blockbuster) sold by Smith Kline & French, their completion at the time (MONTALBAN and SAKINÇ, 2011). The introduction of this drug, brought about an increasing sales force in the US, the company soon became dependent on the drug, because it represented a large part of their profit. In 2002, 8 blockbusters of GSK contributed to $14.240 million sales revenue, taking up 53% of its total ethical sales (Froud et al 2006). However, due to the nature of the pharmaceutical industry, the patent began to expire, in other to avoid the patent cliff, Glaxo merged with Wellcome in 1995, which ensured a growing number of sales force, and with Beecham in 2000 (Froud et al., 2006) this merger, boosted the confidence of investors, by growing the business inorganically. For Big Pharma, this block buster model is very profitable, because with the high cost of R&D, the drugs are able to generate ample profit, to cover the sunk costs
Competition, typically the most powerful external force, is increased by the advent of globalization. The number of companies and the number of countries where these companies operate and the way governments are dealing with the impacts of globalization is accelerating. The interaction of changes in government policy and business innovation has actually made globalization even faster. If a company does not become a global, it would simply be shut out of new markets. The reasons for the turmoil are numerous: a sputtering economy, increased global competition, the implementation of new technologies that displace jobs, the deregulation of certain industries, and the general