Merck & Co.

Diversified pharma anchored by Keytruda, vaccines, and animal health. Entered the obesity pill race in December 2024 by licensing Hansoh's oral small-molecule GLP-1 agonist HS-10535 for $112M upfront and up to $1.9B in milestones; that asset is still preclinical. Its clinical-stage metabolic asset is efinopegdutide, a weekly GLP-1/glucagon co-agonist in Phase 2b for MASH.