Merck, Roche and J&J among pharma players weighing Russian operations amid humanitarian tightrope walk

You can’t buy a Coke, Frappuccino or Big Mac in Russia anymore, but cancer patients may still be able to get Merck’s megablockbuster Keytruda.

While scores of Western corporations have halted business in the country in protest of its Ukraine invasion, the pharmaceutical industry has been walking a humanitarian tightrope: Most drugmakers have condemned the war and promised to halt new investments in Russia—but few have stopped operations altogether in the aggressor nation.