Morgan Finds Positive Datapoints For MRK and BMY At ASCO

Morgan Stanley analyst David Risinger, reiterated his Overweight rating on shares of Merck (NYSE: MRK) after an ASCO abstract highlighted encouraging signs for both MRK and Equal Weight rated Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). Merck's Keynote 407 (abstract 105) showed encouraging overall response rate (ORR) in first-line squamous NSCLC. Keytruda + chemo had an ORR of 58.4% compared to 35.0%. Incidence grade ≥3 AEs was 64.4% for pembro + chemo and 74.5% for chemo.

BMY's Checkmate-227 Part 1b (abstract 9001) suggests that Opdivo may not be inferior to Keytruda in lung cancer after all (at least in PD-L1- nonsquamous). The benefit was more pronounced in non-squamous (HR = 0.68) relative to squamous (HR = 0.92). However, the analysis was descriptive only and no alpha was allocated.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Merck click here. For more ratings news on Merck click here.

Shares of Merck closed at $59.75 yesterday.

You May Also Be Interested In

• William Blair Starts On Holding AG (ONON) at Outperform, 'e see a path to three-year revenue growth above 25%'
• XPO (XPO) PT Raised to $140 at Benchmark
• Cantor Fitzgerald Starts Klaviyo Inc (KVYO) at Overweight