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Merck & Co., Inc. reports news across a global pharmaceutical business known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Company updates center on human health products for areas such as oncology, cardiometabolic disease and infections; vaccines including Gardasil; and Merck Animal Health medicines, devices and customer-support systems.
Recurring developments include FDA approvals, clinical and regulatory disclosures, research publications, pipeline additions, business development transactions, material agreements, capital-structure updates, governance matters, and operating and financial results. Recent themes include the approved HIV-1 regimen IDVYNSO, investigational programs such as enlicitide decanoate and TERN-701, technology partnerships for research, manufacturing and commercial functions, and animal health digital engagement initiatives.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) published a Science paper (May 7, 2026) describing a large-scale biocatalytic synthesis of enlicitide decanoate, an investigational oral PCSK9 inhibitor.
The paper details enzyme-enabled peptide fragment formation, coupling, macrocyclization, and crystallization-based purifications that enable scalable, sustainable manufacture of this macrocyclic peptide.
Merck Animal Health selected Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) Agentforce Life Sciences to create a unified, 360-degree customer engagement platform across veterinarians, pet owners, and production animal farmers. The deployment uses Agentforce 360 and Data 360 to consolidate device data, prescription history, omni-channel service, personalized marketing, subscriptions, warranties, and sales workflows.
The initiative aims to reduce waste and cost to serve, improve access to medicines and devices, increase acquisition and retention, and centralize monitoring and biopharma systems onto a single platform.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) completed the acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals on May 5, 2026, paying $53.00 per share in cash and making Terns a wholly‑owned subsidiary.
The deal covers ~86.36% of Terns shares tendered and converts remaining shares into the same cash consideration; TERN‑701, an oral allosteric BCR::ABL1 inhibitor with FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for certain CML patients, joins Merck’s oncology pipeline. The transaction is expected to be treated as an asset acquisition with a $5.8 billion R&D charge and a ~$0.12 EPS negative impact in 2026.
Knoa Pharma (V) began operations on May 1, 2026 as a public health–focused pharmaceutical company wholly owned by the not‑for‑profit Knoa Foundation (a 501(c)(4)).
The company will manufacture existing medicines, including opioid analgesics, under a strict operating injunction with independent monitoring, will not promote opioid products, and will use value generated to fund opioid abatement and no‑profit access to overdose reversal and OUD treatments.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) reported Q1 2026 sales of $16.3 billion (+5% or +3% ex-FX) with KEYTRUDA sales of $8.03 billion (+12%). GAAP loss per share was $1.72 and non-GAAP loss per share was $1.28, both reflecting a $3.62 per-share charge for the Cidara acquisition. Merck narrowed and raised its 2026 sales outlook to $65.8–$67.0 billion and raised the non-GAAP EPS midpoint to $5.10. The company announced an agreement to acquire Terns, expected to close in May with an ~$5.8 billion one-time charge (~$2.35/share).
Merck (NYSE: MRK) launched the Playing with Heart educational program with nine MLB clubs, baseball legends, and WomenHeart to raise awareness of LDL-C ("bad" cholesterol) and its link to heart attack and stroke risk. The program includes in-stadium events and a national ambassador, Albert Pujols.
According to Merck, the campaign encourages adults to discuss LDL-C with their doctors and directs audiences to playingwithheart.com for resources; the release notes about 800,000 U.S. heart attacks occur annually.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) announced the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act waiting period in connection with its pending acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TERN) expired at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 23, 2026. Merck previously commenced a cash tender offer to buy all outstanding Terns shares for $53.00 net per share.
The expiration of the HSR waiting period satisfies one required condition for consummating the tender offer; closing remains subject to additional conditions in the Schedule TO, including receipt of tenders representing more than 50% of Terns outstanding shares.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud on April 22, 2026, to deploy an agentic AI platform including Gemini Enterprise. The investment is valued at up to $1 billion and targets R&D, manufacturing, commercial, and corporate functions.
The collaboration will pair Google Cloud engineers with Merck teams to digitize data, boost productivity for roughly 75,000 employees, and deploy AI across end-to-end workflows to accelerate scientific innovation and operational impact.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) announced FDA approval of IDVYNSO (doravirine 100 mg / islatravir 0.25 mg), a once-daily, two-drug single-tablet regimen for adults with virologically suppressed HIV-1 and no history of treatment failure or doravirine resistance. IDVYNSO is the first non-INSTI, tenofovir-free two-drug regimen to show non-inferior efficacy versus three-drug regimens in Phase 3 trials. The drug is contraindicated with strong CYP3A inducers and with lamivudine or emtricitabine. IDVYNSO will be available in pharmacies after May 11, 2026.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Eisai announced that the Phase 3 LITESPARK-012 trial in first-line advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma did not meet dual primary endpoints of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) versus KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA at a pre-specified interim analysis. The safety profiles were consistent with prior studies. A full data evaluation is ongoing and results will be shared with the scientific community. The companies noted this does not affect other LITESPARK trials; two sNDAs from LITESPARK-011 have FDA review with an Oct. 4, 2026 PDUFA date.