Merck faces Keytruda patent cliff, ending the era of blockbuster cancer drugs

Merck’s Keytruda faces a patent cliff in 2028. This milestone signals the end of the single, dominant blockbuster era in oncology.

The market is shifting toward a fragmented landscape of targeted therapies. Investors are pivoting from seeking a lone successor to backing treatments for specific patient populations.

Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, and AstraZeneca continue to compete for market share. Emerging science makes outperforming Keytruda as a broad standard of care increasingly difficult.

Potential Keytruda killers are now viewed as contenders for specific market slices. The industry is moving toward combination and precision therapies instead of universal treatments.