Merck (MRK) FY2025 results: revenue $65.0 billion, up 1.3% on the year

Merck is a health care company selling prescription medicines, including biologic therapies, vaccines and animal health products. It is managed principally by product and has two operating segments, both reportable: Pharmaceutical, which holds the human medicines and vaccines, and Animal Health. At the end of 2025 it had approximately 75,000 employees worldwide, approximately 30,000 of them in the United States including Puerto Rico, plus approximately 15,000 third-party contractors counted as full-time equivalents. Approximately 21% of employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and the voluntary turnover rate for 2025 was approximately 4.8%.

Who it sells to differs by product. Human pharmaceutical products go primarily to drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, government agencies and managed health care providers such as health maintenance organisations and pharmacy benefit managers. Vaccines go primarily to physicians, wholesalers, distributors and government entities. Animal health products go to veterinarians, distributors, animal producers, farmers and pet owners.

Oncology

Keytruda, pembrolizumab, is an anti-PD-1 therapy available for intravenous administration. It is approved as a single agent across a long list of cancers including cervical, classical Hodgkin lymphoma, cutaneous squamous cell, esophageal, head and neck, hepatocellular, melanoma, Merkel cell, microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient solid tumours, non-small cell lung, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, tumour mutational burden-high solid tumours and urothelial cancer; as adjuvant treatment after surgery in melanoma, renal cell and lung cancer; in perioperative settings around surgery in lung, triple-negative breast, head and neck and muscle invasive bladder cancer; and in combination with chemotherapy or with other agents such as Lenvima, axitinib, trastuzumab and enfortumab vedotin across further indications. Keytruda Qlex is a subcutaneous fixed combination of pembrolizumab with berahyaluronidase alfa, which enables the subcutaneous route, approved in the United States for the solid tumour indications Keytruda carries and marketed as Keytruda SC in some markets. Welireg treats certain von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated tumours, advanced renal cell carcinoma after prior therapy, and certain pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma. The company also recognises alliance revenue on Lynparza, an oral PARP inhibitor, on Lenvima, an oral receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and on Reblozyl for certain anemias.

Vaccines

Gardasil and Gardasil 9 against human papillomavirus; ProQuad, M-M-R II and Varivax for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox; Vaxneuvance, Capvaxive and Pneumovax 23 against pneumococcal disease; RotaTeq against rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants; and Enflonsia, a long-acting monoclonal antibody preventing respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants entering their first RSV season.

The rest of the pharmaceutical segment

Hospital acute care holds Bridion, which reverses two types of neuromuscular blocking agent used in surgery, Prevymis against cytomegalovirus infection in transplant recipients, the antibacterial Zerbaxa and Dificid for C. difficile-associated diarrhoea. Cardiometabolic and respiratory holds Winrevair and Adempas for pulmonary arterial hypertension, Verquvo for chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and Ohtuvayre, an inhaled PDE3/4 inhibitor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Virology holds Lagevrio for COVID-19, available in the United States under Emergency Use Authorization, and the HIV treatments Isentress, Delstrigo and Pifeltro. Neuroscience holds Belsomra for insomnia, and diabetes holds Januvia and Janumet.

Animal Health

Veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, health management services and digitally connected identification, traceability and monitoring products. On the livestock side the range runs across cattle, swine, poultry and farmed fish: the Nuflor antibiotic range, the Bovilis and Vista vaccine lines, Banamine and Resflor for bovine respiratory disease and inflammation, Safe-Guard de-wormer, the Porcilis and Circumvent swine vaccine lines, the Nobilis and Innovax poultry vaccines, Exzolt against mite infestations, Slice and Imvixa for sea lice in salmon, Aquaflor for farmed fish, and Allflex Livestock Intelligence for animal identification, monitoring and traceability. On the companion animal side, Bravecto is a line of oral, topical and injectable parasite control products for dogs and cats, running from the original twelve-week product to a one-month dog product, a one-year injectable and a two-month cat product; alongside it sit the Sentinel oral parasitic range, the Nobivac dog and cat vaccine lines, Numelvi for pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis, Caninsulin and Vetsulin for diabetes mellitus in dogs and cats, and Sure Petcare identification products including the Home Again microchip and pet recovery system.

Who it competes with

Other worldwide research-based pharmaceutical companies, smaller research companies with a narrower therapeutic focus, generic drug manufacturers and animal health companies. The filing points to generic and biosimilar competition as its own products mature, to competitors' technological advances, industry consolidation and patents, and to the rising frequency with which patent rights are challenged.

From Merck's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. The filing

Written from the 10-K filed 24 February 2026: read the full 10-K.