Germany's Merck beat market expectations with a 56% jump in quarterly operating profit, helped by sales of its liquid crystals, multiple-sclerosis drug and cancer medicine Erbitux.
Third-quarter operating profit was €292m ($415m), compared with an average estimate of €275m expected by analysts.
Revenues rose 61% to €1.74 billion.
Merck inherited multiple-sclerosis drug Rebif after its €10.2 billion acquisition of Swiss biotech company Serono, which has started contributing to results this year.
Net profit fell 75% to €36m, partly because of integration costs and writedowns on Serono.
The German drugs and chemicals group detailed its sales forecast for this year, saying it expected organic sales growth of 7-9%.
Including the negative impact of the strong euro, sales were set to rise 4-6%, it said.
The company had warned in the past that the euro's strength would crimp its underlying sales forecast of high-single digit percentage growth.
Merck reiterated its expectations for operating profit to rise more than 20% this year.
