Topic: How To Invest

Power Growth Investor Hotline – Friday, December 20, 2024

Article Excerpt

MERCK & CO. INC., $98.05, is a buy. The drugmaker (symbol MRK on New York) is a pharmaceutical leader in oncology, acute-care and animal health drugs as well as vaccines. Merck is now making a foray into the lucrative obesity market. The company has announced that it is licensing global rights to an investigational oral GLP-1 receptor, HS-10535, from Chinese biotech Hansoh Pharma. For the exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize this pre-clinical candidate, Merck will make an upfront payment of $112 million to Hansoh Pharma, with Hansoh also being entitled to receive up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments and royalties on sales. Hansoh has an option to co-promote or solely commercialize HS-10535 in China. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are presently dominating the obesity market with their weekly GLP-1 injections, Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively. Lilly and Novo Nordisk also market their diabetes drugs, Mounjaro and Ozempic, off-label for weight loss. Oral pills like HS-10535, if approved as weight loss drugs,…