Shares of pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Merck both rose by about 1% Tuesday after reporting first-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
However, shares of drug giant Eli Lilly dropped more than 3% after releasing first-quarter earnings that topped profit expectations, but missed on revenue. Sales of two of Eli Lilly’s key drugs, Trulicity and Alimta, fell short of Wall Street’s forecasts. Merck’s earnings got a slight lift from sales of cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda and vaccines — amid the worst measles outbreak since health officials declared the disease eradicated from the U.S. in 2000.
