Dive Brief:
- Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday reported modestly higher-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter, while cautioning that unfavorable currency exchange rates would temper sales growth this year.
- Adjusted earnings per share reached $2.04 in the fourth quarter, higher than the Wall Street consensus of $2.01 and Leerink Partners’ estimate of $1.96, Leerink analyst David Risinger wrote in a note to clients. The company’s sales rose 5.3% to $22.5 billion during the quarter, in line with estimates
- Full-year 2024 revenue increased to $88.8 billion from $85.2 billion in 2023. For this year, J&J expects revenue to climb to between $89.2 billion and $90 billion, with a mid-point of $89.6 billion, less than the consensus estimate of $91.1 billion. Shares of the company dropped about 3% in early trading Wednesday, even as the overall market rose.
Dive Insight:
CEO Joaquin Duato is looking to newer medicines to drive J&J’s sales growth as the company fights through generic competition for its second-best selling drug, Stelara. Worldwide sales of Stelara dropped 15% to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, with most of the decline coming from overseas, where copycat competition already has a toehold. In the U.S., Amgen recently launched the first biosimilar of Stelara and more are on the way.
Even so, J&J is poised for “sustained growth” through this decade, Duato said. “I cannot think of any other company that would be able to deliver growth through the first year of losing exclusivity of a multibillion-dollar product,” Duato told analysts on a conference call.
That growth will depend in large part on the continued success of the company’s cancer medicines, led by Darzalex. Sales of the drug jumped 21% to $3.1 billion in the fourth quarter. At the same time, J&J’s Carvykti, a CAR-T treatment for multiple myeloma, came close to breaking $1 billion in sales for the year. J&J will also be looking for growth from newer medicines including Tecvayli and Talvey.
Outside of oncology, J&J’s depression treatment Spravato brought in sales of $1.1 billion for the year, a 56% increase from the previous year. And the drug will benefit in 2025 from an expanded Food and Drug Administration approval in people with treatment-resistant depression.
J&J also plans to expand its psychiatric offerings with the $14.6 billion acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies announced last week. Intra-Cellular sells a drug called Caplyta for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and is looking to expand its use for patients with major depressive disorder.
