MerckThe company sold 952 million units of Covid-19 treatment pills molnupiravir during the fourth quarter. Thursday’s announcement said that it is on track for another $5 billion-$6 billion in sales this year.

In announcing earnings results, Merck said that the majority of sales have been made in the U.S.A, U.K., Japan. This was in line with Wall Street profit expectations and revenue estimates. After December’s approval of the pill by the Food and Drug Administration, Merck shipped 1.4 Million courses to the U.S.

Rob Davis, CEO of Merck said that Merck has fulfilled its promise to deliver 3.1 million US courses in the next few days. Davis stated that the company is on track to ship four million courses in 25 different countries soon. Merck shares the profits of molnupirvar with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

Davis stated Thursday to CNBC’s Meg Tirrell that “molnupiravir has been shown to work against omicron,” adding that it was important in fighting that variant. His statement was “Of course, we will have to watch how it plays out and what the initial uptake is. But right now, we feel that we are on a positive footing.”

Based on Refinitiv’s average analyst estimates, here’s what the company did compared to Wall Street’s expectations.

• Adjusted EPS: $1.80 per share vs. $1.53 per share expected

• RevenueExpected: $13.16 billion, $13.52billion

Merck posted a profit of $3.82 billion for the fourth quarter, up from $2.62 billion during the same quarter 2020.

Molnupiravir was shown to reduce the chance of hospitalization in clinical studies OderCovid patients were less likely to die from cancer than those who did not receive treatment. However, the death rate was 30% lower for Covid patients and 90% less. Davis explained that the U.K. is currently conducting an in-depth study on the drug’s performance and Merck will track molnupiravir’s global impact.

Davis explained that, despite seeing some progress in at least the United States with the wave of omicron, over 2,000 people are still dying each day from the Covid-19. Davis stated, “The fact that molnupiravir lowers the death rate by 90 percent means that we might be able to make a significant impact on patients.”

Merck’s fourth quarter 2021 sales totalled $13.52 billion, an increase of 24% over the quarter 2020. The growth was driven by Gardasil’s HPV vaccine that protects against cervical cancer as well as Keytruda’s treatment that combats melanoma.

Keytruda sales increased 15 percent over the last quarter for total revenues of $4.58 billion. Gardasil sales increased by 53% between the fourth quarter of 2020 and $1.53 billion. Davis stated that Gardasil’s sales in China have seen a tremendous increase in demand, with China having one of the most severe cases of HPV.

Davis told CNBC that M&A remains an important part of Merck’s strategy, pointing to its acquisition of Acceleron last year as an example of the types of deals the company plans to pursue in the future. Acceleron acquired Acceleron’s drug, sotatercept for pulmonary arterial hypertension (a type of cardiovascular disease), in a $11.5 billion deal.

Davis stated that he believes there are opportunities. However, it will take time to observe how they evolve.