Merck to Create a Separate Cancer Unit as Patent Cliff Looms (1)

Merck & Co. is splitting its main pharmaceutical unit in two in an effort to better highlight the parts of the business that are growing, as it stares down a patent cliff for its best-selling cancer drug Keytruda.

Keytruda’s been driving Merck’s growth for nearly a decade, accounting for almost half of the company’s total sales last year. But new federal drug pricing policies will bring lower-priced competitors into the market within the next few years. The drug giant has been working hard to diversify its pipeline and has some promising new treatments, including a more effective pneumonia vaccine Capvaxive ...