Merck companion animal sales rise 6% to $628M in Q3

Companion animal sales at Merck rose 6% to $628M in the third quarter, Merck & Co. said on October 29th. Total animal health sales reached $1.676B, up 4% from $1.615B a year earlier and up 3% excluding currency. Livestock added $1.048B, up 2%, and the Bravecto flea and tick line came in at $264M, up 1% and flat excluding currency.

Merck said growth came from both portfolios. It credited poultry demand for the livestock gain and wrote that companion animal growth was "largely driven by new product launches." Animal health made up about 9% of the company's $18.1B in third-quarter sales, by our math. Merck narrowed its 2026 sales outlook to $66.8B to $67.3B, up from $66.3B to $67.3B, and that range covers the whole company.

Merck animal health grew 4% but fell from Q2

Merck, based in Rahway, N.J., reported animal health sales of $1.775B in the second quarter, up 8%, according to its second-quarter release. Companion animal made up $734M of that, up 7%. The third-quarter figures are lower on a sequential basis, with companion animal at $628M and the total at $1.676B.

Bravecto shows the same pattern. It earned $359M in the second quarter and $379M in the first quarter, then $264M in the third. Our earlier Elanco story noted that parasiticide sales tend to front-load into the spring buying season, which fits a lower third-quarter number for a flea and tick line.

Bravecto is also a product Merck keeps extending. Meg Conlon, DVM, executive director of U.S. Companion Animal Veterinary Services at Merck Animal Health, said when the label expanded on March 18th, 2026 that "For more than a decade, BRAVECTO has set the benchmark for extended-duration flea and tick protection." That Bravecto Quantum label update added Asian longhorned tick and Gulf Coast tick to a 12-month injection for dogs and puppies 6 months and older. Merck first won U.S. approval for the injection on July 10th, 2025.

Companion animal growth came from outside Bravecto

Without Bravecto, companion animal sales were $364M this quarter against $330M a year ago, by our math, a gain of about 10%. Bravecto went from 44% of companion animal sales in the third quarter of 2025 to 42% this quarter, by the same math.

Merck did not say which launches drove the 6%. Its recent launches include a dog dermatology drug. NUMELVI, an atinvicitinib tablet for dogs, won FDA approval in February 2026 for itch tied to allergic dermatitis, with a U.S. clinic launch expected in spring 2026. Christine McKinney, DVM, a senior professional services veterinarian at Merck Animal Health, said "most dogs, starting at weights as low as 4.4 pounds, require only one or half of a tablet." Merck calls NUMELVI the first and only second-generation JAK inhibitor for that use in dogs.

That puts Merck in a category where Elanco and Zoetis already sell. In the second quarter Zoetis reported flat revenue of $2.5B and cut its full-year guidance, while Elanco posted revenue of $1.37B, up roughly 10%, on Credelio Quattro and Zenrelia. Zenrelia is Elanco's canine dermatology drug.

Clinics and distributors that stock dog parasiticides and dermatology drugs now see Merck's Bravecto Quantum and NUMELVI placed against Elanco's Credelio Quattro and Zenrelia. Investors get a third reference point for companion animal demand alongside Zoetis and Elanco.

Zoetis and Elanco report next in early November

Both rivals typically report third-quarter results in early November, according to our earlier coverage of each company. Merck's 6% companion animal growth and the roughly 10% growth outside Bravecto give the market a figure to compare against when they do.

Source: Merck & Co., Inc. via Business Wire (BioSpace copy)