Diabetes drug boosts Merck’s profits in fourth quarter

Merck & Co, the second-largest US drugmaker, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates on higher sales of the Januvia diabetes drug. The company forecast 2012 earnings that matched estimates.

Net income was $1.51 billion (€1.14bn), or 49 cents a share, compared with a loss of $531 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier when Merck took a $1.7bn charge to write down the value of an experimental blood thinner, the Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based company said yesterday.

The company employs 2,330 people directly in Ireland and supports a further 9,000 Irish jobs.