Merck posts bigger quarterly loss

Pharmaceutical firm said net loss widened year on year to $872m in the fourth quarter

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY IAN TIMBERLAKE
A picture taken December 18, 2014 shows a Saudi staff working at Ahmed Khalaf’s laboratory in King Fahad hospital in Riyadh. Ahmed Khalaf's Stability Laboratory, as of August 2014, became the first private lab accredited by Saudi Arabia's Food and Drug Authority to test pharmaceuticals, along with other products. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE

Dubai seeks to attract $2.5 billion in investments to the pharmaceutical industry in the next five years. AFP

Feb 02, 2018

US drugmaker Merck & Co reported a bigger quarterly loss on Friday, partly due to a $2.6 billion charge related to recent changes to the US tax law.

Merck's net loss attributable widened to $872 million, or 32 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, from $594m, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.

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[ Dubai seeks to attract $2.5bn to pharmaceutical sector as part of 2030 industrial strategy ]

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The company said its research and development expenses fell 56 per cent to $2.06bn in the quarter.