HIGHLIGHTS
- Estimated Propecia revenue from 1999–2015: $5.2 billion
- Rough estimate of operating profit from Propecia: $4.2 billion
Merck received FDA approval for Propecia (finasteride 1 mg/day) in December 1997. Sales in the first year of marketing were reported to be $76 million. The peak years were 2010–2011, when Merck reported $447 million in Propecia sales in each year. In total, Merck booked an estimated $5.2 billion in sales of Propecia.
We can roughly estimate Merck’s operating profit from Propecia. The New York Times reported in 1998 that Propecia development costs were $450 million. Ad Age reported an advertising campaign of $50–$60 million in 1998, the first year of marketing in the U.S. An average marketing spend of $30 million per year over 18 years would total $540 million. This implies total estimated research and marketing costs of $1 billion and an estimated profit of $4.2 billion from 1998–2015.
To learn more about the marketing of Propecia, see news stories from 1997 to the early 2000s.
| Year | Revenue ($MM) |
| 1998 | 76 |
| 1999E | 109 |
| 2000E | 141 |
| 2001E | 174 |
| 2002E | 206 |
| 2003 | 239 |
| 2004 | 270 |
| 2005 | 292 |
| 2006 | 352 |
| 2007 | 405 |
| 2008 | 429 |
| 2009 | 440 |
| 2010 | 447 |
| 2011 | 447 |
| 2012 | 424 |
| 2013 | 283 |
| 2014 | 264 |
| 2015 | 183 |
| TOTAL | 5,181 |
Revenue data sources: 1998 data reported in Advertising Age, 1999 Sep 27;70(40). 2003–2015 data from Merck 10-K and 11-K SEC filings. E = estimate. Missing data is estimated assuming linear growth from 1998 to 2003. Propecia sales were not reported after 2015.
More on Merck
- Disinformation is a weapon in the war over finasteride safety
- How Merck buried finasteride’s full impact on chemical signaling
- Rules of engagement: how sensitive concerns are hidden from drug trials
- Polls vs. official data on side effect rates
- Hair or manhood—choose one?
- Meta-analysis launders safety data from old pharma trials; blames patients for drug harms
- How was finasteride invented?
- Merck’s Propecia business
- Since 1994, Merck has been aware of unresolved sexual dysfunction in men who stopped taking finasteride
- The Merck files, part 3: Propecia lawsuits