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Empresas y finanzas

Merck beats first-quarter forecast, cost cuts offset Gardasil decline


    (Reuters) - Merck & Co reported lower than expected third quarter revenue, hurt by sharply lower sales of its Gardasil vaccine against cervical cancer, but cost cuts enabled the company to beat earnings forecasts.

    The No. 2 U.S. drugmaker on Monday said it earned $895 million, or 31 cents per share, in the third quarter. That compared with $1.12 billion, or 38 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

    Excluding special items, MERCK (MRK.NY)earned 90 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected 88 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    (Reporting by Ransdell Pierson Editing by W Simon)