Merck reported second-quarter revenue of $16.61 billion, beating analyst estimates of $16.27 billion with 5.1% year-on-year growth. The pharmaceutical company's performance was driven by strong sales of KEYTRUDA in oncology and robust Animal Health results. The company raised its full-year revenue guidance to $66.8 billion at the midpoint but lowered adjusted earnings per share guidance to $2.71, a 46.9% decrease. Operating margin fell to -3.5% from 31.6% in the prior year, affected by higher operating expenses and acquisition-related charges. During the earnings call, analysts questioned management about planned clinical trials for pembrolizumab in first-line lung cancer, TL1A activity compared to TNF inhibitors, and commercial adoption expectations for LIPFENDRA. CEO Robert Davis highlighted expansion opportunities for oral PCSK9 treatments in primary care markets.

Merck expands Singapore lab for biopharma testing. Paolo Carli highlights how the expansion will support analytical and biosafety testing services for Asia Pacific biopharma customers. Merck is expanding its Singapore laboratory to strengthen analytical and biosafety testing services for customers across the Asia Pacific region. Biosafety testing is a step in the drug development and manufacturing process, helping to ensure that biologics are safe, effective and compliant with regulatory requirements. The expansion builds on Merck's global testing expertise of more than 75 years and marks a milestone in providing a local contract testing services portfolio for the region's growing biopharma industry. "Localizing these BioReliance testing capabilities means our Asia Pacific biopharma customers can accelerate their development timelines, improve operational efficiency, and meet evolving regulatory and sustainability standards" said Paolo Carli, Head of Advanced Solutions for the Life Science business of Merck. "This investment underscores Merck's commitment to empowering medicine makers by providing industry-leading analytical and biosafety testing services and technical expertise." Merck's Singapore laboratory will become the first BioReliance facility in Asia-Pacific to offer both Cell Line Characterization services and GMP next-generation sequencing (NGS) capabilities. It will also offer molecular methods including Blazar(R), a proprietary platform for rapid virus detection. The expanded facility aims to support the industry's move towards quality control testing of biologics and 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement of animal use) through molecular methods. "Merck's expansion of the BioReliance lab will bring world-class and next-generation testing services to biopharmaceutical companies in Singapore and the region. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Merck to strengthen Singapore's ecosystem, build new capabilities within our local workforce, and enable the delivery of innovative therapies to patients," said Goh Wan Yee, Senior Vice President and Head of Healthcare, Singapore Economic Development Board. The Singapore BioReliance(R) lab was opened in 2018, and the expansion will bring the total lab area to over 1,000 square metres. The expansion is also a step in Merck's broader strategy to support the region's life science ecosystem and drive scientific progress.

How Merck's commercial teams build their own AI role-play, market by market. Munich, August 10, 2026 Merck x Retorio · Pharmaceuticals There is a limit to how far generic training travels. A rep in Boston does not face the same conversation as a rep in Madrid or São Paulo, and a scenario built for one product rarely fits another. Merck works with Retorio on something more powerful than off-the-shelf practice: the ability for its commercial teams to build their own realistic role-play, shaped around the products, stakeholders and situations they actually face. Retorio supports that work across 19 markets, including the United States, where Merck operates as EMD Serono. Relevance is what makes practice stick The teams that get the most from coaching are the ones whose practice mirrors reality. A generic exercise is easy to dismiss; a scenario that sounds exactly like next week's meeting is impossible to ignore. But building relevant, high-quality practice used to require experts and weeks of work, so most teams settled for generic. Merck's commercial teams wanted more control: to turn their own materials and personas into practice that reflects their market and their language. A US field team preparing for a payer conversation and a European team preparing for a hospital specialist need the same coaching standard, not the same script. Coaching teams can shape themselves Teams create custom scenarios with virtual stakeholders, and the platform delivers instant, behavioral feedback based on the Warmth and Competence framework. Reps rehearse their approach, adapt to different conversation styles and refine how they communicate value, in a private, on-demand environment. The result is practice that feels real because it is theirs, tuned to the specific conversations a team is about to have. Consistency and control together For a global science and technology company, adapting scenarios per market and language while keeping one consistent coaching standard is exactly what makes the approach scale across 19 markets. In practice: Picture an EMD Serono team in the US that wants to flip the usual exercise on its head, letting reps play the customer as well as the seller, with their own products and their own market's access questions. They build the scenario in Retorio, run it across the team and refine it from real feedback. Practice stops being something done to them and becomes something they own. The platform runs on EU-hosted infrastructure that is GDPR and DSGVO compliant, EU AI Act aligned and ISO 27001 certified, which is the bar pharmaceutical teams have to meet. A partnership Retorio is proud of As Merck's commercial teams keep raising the bar, the ability to build their own realistic practice puts capability in their hands. Retorio is glad to give them the tools. Retorio is an AI coaching platform for enterprise commercial teams in insurance, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, food and automotive. GDPR and DSGVO compliant, EU AI Act aligned, ISO 27001 certified, hosted on Google Cloud Platform with EU data residency. The Retorio News Team The Retorio News Team covers product updates, AI coaching insights, and data trends from across the Retorio platform.