Pharma Merck’s giant hopes Trump’s rates to cost the company 200 million

Mercy it is followedJohnson & Johnson’s leadershipand report a planned financial success ofratesImposed by the Trump administration.

On a call from April 24 earnings, executives said they expect $ 200 million in rates -related costs by 2025. Merck reduced profit expectations throughout the year from $ 8.88 to $ 9.03 per action to $ 8.82 at $ 8.97 per action.

The news comes one week after J&J executives said they are waiting for $ 400 million in rates induced expenses in 2025.

Robert Davis, President and CEO of Merck, said that during the call of results that the impact will be mainly from the existing rates implemented “between the United States and China, and to a lesser extent, Canada and Mexico.”

Although thethreatFrom the pharmaceutical rates, after the announcement of the Department of Commerce, on April 14, that the Trump administration is investigating the national security implications of pharmaceutical imports, Davis did not seem particularly concerned.

“In terms of possible additional rates by US specifically in pharmaceuticals, our global supply chain and current inventory levels put us in a good position to browse possible short -term impacts,” he said.

Davis, when asked during the call of results, how Merck is prepared for possible pharmaceutical rates, Davis said that the company has identified ways of “repositioning” its manufacture, including the change in the priorities of existing plants, external manufacture and the creation of internal manufacturing.

Merck has invested $ 12 billion in the United States -based manufacturing since 2018 and is planning to invest additional $ 9 billion until 2028, said Davis, adding that the company’s investments “have in addition to our products for patients who are manufactured in the United States and more export opportunities.”

Zoom out.Merck is not the only drug maker to highlight United States investments.

J&J executives in March said that the company plans to invest $ 55 million in North -American manufacturing for the next four years. And in February, Eli Lilly Executives said the company will invest at least $ 27 billion to open four new American plants over the next five years.

The three drug makers have said that their decisions to expand the North -American manufacturing were due to the 2018 tax on tax reduction and work, which reduced the national tax rate of pharmaceutical companies.

Fiscal policy, rather than rates, is a “very effective tool for building the manufacturing capacity here in the United States, both for Medtech and Pharmaceuticals,” said J&J’s CEO Joaquin Duato during the company’s results call.

A quick deployment.Merck world sales for the first quarter of 2025 were $ 15.5 billion, 2% more than in the first quarter of 2024.

Despite reducing the profit expectations of 2025, the company said that it still hopes that world sales will fall from $ 64.1 billion to $ 65.6 billion this year.

Merck also prepares for your blockbuster Keytruda cancer drug, which is more than 45% of manufacturer’s global drug sales, to face patent expiration by 2028. Keytruda’s sales increased by 4% during the $ 7.2 billion quarter, up to $ 6.9 billion in the same quarter last year. Daina Graybosch wrote in a note, saying that Merck’s earnings shouted that it occurred a bit below last year below Daina Graybosch’s investigation. Leerink Partners’ expectations.

This report was Originally posted by Brew Healthcare Brew.

This story originally presented to Fortune.com

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