When sales start declining because of patent expiries and better competition, the stock will plummet. We are overvalued right now. Ken looks like a hero right now but it is a facade. Keytruda is not enough to keep investors happy when the revenue from all of the other products slows considerably. Januvia sales are very important, and we aren’t meeting expectations with it. The new Steglashit is garbage. Our sleep agent was asleep at launch, and continues to be unimpressive. Vaccines sales are not sustainable long term. Zostavax crashed and burned with the launch of Shingrix. Pneumovax is losing a lot of business to Prevnar for 19-64 year olds. There are always shortages with Hep B and several other vaccines. Gardasil is doing well, but is not enough.
Ken will be leaving soon with a lot of money and a big smile. Merck does have a lot of money but will not be able to sustain this structure long term. We will have to get much leaner and make strategic acquisitions in oncology.