Latest news with #Stelara
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
J&J accelerates past Stelara's fall with better-than-expected portfolio growth
This story was originally published on PharmaVoice. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily PharmaVoice newsletter. Johnson & Johnson came out of the gates with a strong showing in second-quarter earnings yesterday despite a major headwind from the loss of exclusivity for immunology blockbuster Stelara. How did the pharma giant stay on the upswing? By pumping up newer meds and leaning on strengths in oncology and neuroscience. All in all, the company's pharmaceutical quarterly sales rose 4.9% worldwide to more than $15 billion. J&J CEO Joaquin Duato said on the company's earnings call that executive vice president and worldwide chairman of J&J Innovative Medicine Jennifer Taubert deserved a shoutout for raking in record pharma sales while Stelara's revenue fell like a stone. 'Credit to [Taubert] and her team achieving the first $15 billion quarter despite $1.2 billion of year-on-year erosion in the quarter from Stelara. I don't think any other company can do that.' Joaquin Duato CEO, J&J Here's what executives said about the challenges and opportunities in J&J's top three therapeutic areas, and how the company weathered the storm of a major patent cliff — pointing to ways its Big Pharma brethren can overcome their own headwinds in the years to come. Saving immunology Stelara has been a breadwinner for J&J for more than a decade, bringing in peak sales of almost $11 billion in 2023. Then the biosimilars started to arrive, first in Europe in 2024, and then in the U.S. this year. That brought about a $1.2 billion sales drop in the second quarter of 2025 from the same period the year before. But the company is riding a wave of newer immunology drugs that, while not yet making up for all of Stelara's losses, have kept the therapeutic area poised for future growth. 'It's hard to pick one particular product that gives us reason for our enthusiasm in the back half … but if I had to point … I would say Tremfya.' Joseph Wolk CFO, J&J Tremfya's sales have been growing steadily and recently expanded into inflammatory bowel disease, which contributed to 30% growth in the quarter, along with indications in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. CFO Joe Wolk said Stelara had 70% of prescriptions filled with IBD, making that indication a particularly enticing chunk of the market. On the call, Duato pointed to a peak sales estimate of $10 billion annually for Tremfya, which would bring it in line with Stelara's performance at the end of its exclusive lifecycle. Add that to the double-digit growth of marketed immunology products Remicade and the Simponi franchise, as well as a pipeline shaping up to make a splash in years to come, and the overall 16% decline in sales for immunology looks like it will become a short-lived slump in the long run. No.1 in oncology? Duato made big promises for J&J's growing prowess in oncology beyond what analysts have predicted. 'With more than 10 products in market across 26 approved indications and over 25 treatments in late-stage development, we expect to become the No. 1 oncology company by 2030 with sales of more than $50 billion.' Joaquin Duato CEO, J&J The company saw 22% growth in oncology overall in the second quarter, with particular contributions from the multiple myeloma drug Darzalex and the prostate cancer treatment Erleada. Also performing well was the CAR-T cell therapy Carvykti, overcoming obstacles in the space with $439 million in sales for the quarter. Taubert also said the bladder cancer pipeline candidate TAR-200 is undervalued by analysts and has been designed to fit into urologists' routine clinical practice in a way that could make its 2028 numbers reach 'at least three times higher' than what industry watchers have estimated. '[TAR-200] is probably the asset that has the biggest disconnect between our internal forecasts and what the Street expects.' Jennifer Taubert EVP, worldwide chairman, J&J Innovative Medicine Neuroscience on the rise The ketamine-based depression drug Spravato has turned out to be a winner for J&J with more than 50% growth on the market to $414 million in sales in the first quarter. While execs celebrated the win, they're also looking forward to what schizophrenia and bipolar depression newcomer Caplyta has in store. J&J picked up Caplyta in the acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies that closed earlier this year for $14.6 billion. 'Caplyta adds to J&J's robust lineup of therapies with $5 billion-plus potential in peak year sales, and further solidifies sales growth above analyst expectations through the rest of the decade.' Joaquin Duato CEO, J&J Overall, neuroscience grew almost 15% for J&J, bringing in more than $2 billion in the second quarter. Recommended Reading J&J's 2024 strategy will focus on newer meds to offset Stelara's patent cliff Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
J&J absorbs Stelara, tariff hits to deliver beat-and-raise quarter
This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter. Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday reported quarterly prescription drug sales that for the first time surpassed $15 billion, highlighting the strength of the pharmaceutical company's portfolio during a year in which its formerly top-selling drug lost market exclusivity. Second quarter sales for J&J's pharmaceuticals business reached $15.2 billion between April and June, nearly 4% higher than the same period last year on an operational basis. Overall second quarter sales were up 4.6% on the same basis to total $23.7 billion, beating Wall Street forecasts. J&J now expects higher operational growth for 2025, increasing the midpoint of its guidance range for both adjusted sales and earnings per share. The company also halved its estimates for how much U.S. tariffs would weigh on its business this year. It now anticipates a roughly $200 million hit, exclusively within its medical device unit. President Donald Trump has said further levies on pharmaceuticals are coming soon, but indicated the duties would be phased in, potentially giving drugmakers time to adjust their operations and stockpile inventory. J&J shares jumped by more than 6% Wednesday morning following its earnings release. 'No other healthcare company has grown through the loss of exclusivity of a multibillion-dollar product in the first year, in our case Stelara,' J&J CEO Joaquin Duato said on a conference call with analysts, referring to the company's 16-year-old psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease medicine. Stelara sales during the quarter fell by 43% year over year, to $1.7 billion. J&J has a newer drug, Tremfya, that it has positioned as a successor to Stelara in many of the same diseases and hopes will eventually grow into a $10 billion-a-year product. Sales in the second quarter rose 30% year over year to $1.2 billion as more doctors prescribed it for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. But it's J&J's oncology business that's providing the most significant counterweight to Stelara's loss of exclusivity. Overall cancer drug sales were $6.3 billion between April and June, more than $1 billion higher than in the same period last year. Over half of that total came from J&J's multiple myeloma medicine Darzalex, which is one of several drugs the company sells for the blood cancer. Duato claimed about 80% of all multiple myeloma patients receive a J&J therapy as some point in their treatment. By the end of the decade, J&J predicts its oncology business will bring in $50 billion in annual sales, notably higher than what analysts on Wall Street currently estimate. Jennifer Taubert, head of the company's pharmaceuticals business, pointed to Darzalex and its multiple myeloma cell therapy Carvykti as key contributors to that goal. Two other J&J medicines, Tecvayli and Talvey, are also approved for the blood cancer, but are early in their respective launches. Taubert also highlighted a drug-device combination called TAR-200 that J&J is targeting for use in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. 'That is probably the asset that has the biggest disconnect between our internal forecasts and what the Street expects,' she said. 'If you take a look at 2028 consensus, we actually see our numbers at least three times higher.' J&J previously detailed several other drugs for which analysts forecasts diverge from its own. One other is a combination of the medicines Rybrevant and Lazcluze, which are approved for a certain type of metastatic lung cancer. The company aims to win U.S. clearance for a subcutaneous version of Rybrevant, but had its application rejected by the Food and Drug Administration in December. On Wednesday's call, Taubert said the agency's complete response letter related to 'a manufacturing question or two' and J&J has since responded. Recommended Reading J&J boosts US manufacturing as big pharma reshores Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Johnson & Johnson a Good Dividend Stock to Buy Now?
Key Points Johnson & Johnson reported second-quarter results on July 16. Sales of pharmaceuticals have been muted due to a loss of market exclusivity for Stelara. A strong medical technology segment and an expanding pharmaceutical business could keep pushing the dividend higher despite patent expirations. 10 stocks we like better than Johnson & Johnson › For decades, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) stock was favored by investors seeking steady gains. Looking at its post-COVID-19 performance, though, steady gains aren't what investors received. When the market closed on Tuesday, July 15, shares of Johnson & Johnson or J&J, were down 7.5% in the year to date and about 17% below the all-time high the stock set back in 2022. Recent stock price movements don't jibe with the company's performance. When reporting second-quarter results before the market opened on July 16, management raised its sales outlook for the year. J&J's stock price is down from its 2022 peak, but it's performed better than you might think by simply looking at its chart. In 2023, shareholders received new shares of Kenvue, which used to be the conglomerate's consumer health division. Plus, this April, it raised its dividend payout for the 63rd year in a row. Let's take a closer look at J&J's performance through the first half of 2025 to see if it's still a good dividend stock to buy now. Reasons to buy Johnson & Johnson stock now The healthcare conglomerate's latest dividend increase of 4.8% raised the quarterly payout to $1.30 per share. At recent prices, that works out to a 3.3% yield. Sales of Listerine and Q-tips were reliable, but they didn't grow very fast. Now that J&J is a two-segment business focused on drugs and medical technology, overall sales growth at a mid-to-high single-digit percentage over the long run seems likely. Despite recently losing patent-protected market exclusivity for Stelara, a blockbuster treatment for psoriasis and Crohn's disease, J&J reported second-quarter pharmaceutical sales that rose by 4.9% year over year. Now that Stelara is responsible for less than 7% of total revenue, continued losses to biosimilar competition will be much easier to overcome with growing sales of newer products. There are more than enough new products in J&J's product lineup to overcome Stelara losses and continue growing earnings. For example, the FDA approved Spravato for treatment-resistant depression last year. In the first half of 2025, sales of the drug bounded 48% higher year over year to an annualized $1.5 billion. Caplyta, a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar depression that J&J acquired in April, could surge in 2026. Earlier this month, J&J submitted an application that could make it a popular treatment for preventing relapses of schizophrenia. In a clinical trial supporting the application, treatment with Caplyta reduced the risk of relapse by 63% compared to the placebo group. The intellectual property protecting sales of medical technology lasts a lot longer than drug patents. With a new robotic surgical system on the way, J&J could have a powerful growth driver that boosts profits for decades. In April, surgeons completed the first cases in a clinical trial for the Ottava Robotic Surgical System. Competing with Intuitive Surgical won't be easy. With heaps of resources, J&J has a chance to gain a significant share of the lucrative surgical robotics space. Even without any contribution from Ottava, second-quarter MedTech sales rose by 7.3% year over year. Aging populations in developed nations will need plenty of cardiovascular interventions and hip replacements in the decades ahead. As a leader in these niches, continued growth at the present pace is a reasonable expectation. Don't expect huge gains With intellectual property that doesn't last long, pharmaceutical businesses are made of many pieces moving in opposite directions. Stelara accounted for about 11.7% of total revenue in 2024, making it the biggest patent cliff the company has to deal with at the moment. Multiple myeloma treatment Darzalex is currently responsible for 14.9% of total revenue. The main patents protecting U.S. market exclusivity for Darzalex expire in 2029. Stelara losses in the present and Darzalex losses several years from now mean we aren't likely to see overall sales growth at a double-digit percentage over the long run. That said, we can reasonably expect forward movement at a high-single-digit annual percentage. In the second quarter alone, J&J reported successful clinical trial results for over a dozen compounds that could support new drug approvals or expansions of addressable patient populations for existing treatments. If you're interested in a dividend payout that grows steadily, this is the stock for you. If rapid principle appreciation is what you're after, though, it's probably best to keep looking. Should you invest $1,000 in Johnson & Johnson right now? Before you buy stock in Johnson & Johnson, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Johnson & Johnson wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $679,653!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,046,308!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 179% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 15, 2025 Cory Renauer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical and Kenvue. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $13 calls on Kenvue. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Johnson & Johnson a Good Dividend Stock to Buy Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
J&J doesn't have to 'do a deal out of desperation' despite facing patent cliffs: CFO
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines. The company reported $23.7 billion in revenues, beating estimates of $22.8 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of $2.77, compared to estimates of $2.70. The beat also came with raised guidance for the year, up 5.4% at the midpoint, or about $2 billion, giving the stock a boost Wednesday. The stock was up less than 2% in early trading on Wednesday. Read more about Johnson & Johnson's stock moves and today's market action. The good news comes amid several overhangs on the company, including medical device tariffs and ongoing talc litigation. CFO Joe Wolk told Yahoo Finance the company is well-suited to handle the pressure, as well as the loss of exclusivity with psoriasis drug Stelara, which was a $10 billion-plus drug annually in recent years. The expected gap in revenue from the generic competition for Stelara and other drugs J&J will face in the coming years is not going to have a noticeable impact on the company, he said. "We don't have to do a deal out of desperation to fill a revenue gap," Wolk said. "Stelara eroded $1.2 billion from the second quarter of 2024, compared to the second quarter of 2025. The rest of the portfolio grew 15%. Most companies would either be pausing growth or contracting, here we are growing." He also noted that the company revised the impact of tariffs to $200 million versus $400 million previously. But uncertainty about drug tariffs still lingers. "We're still waiting to see what the administration shares in that regard," Wolk said. "But, to their credit, the administration has really engaged with business ... to just understand the dynamics, the complexity of our business. We can't pick up a supply chain and move it overnight. We can't construct new facilities overnight." JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott noted the $230 million beat in MedTech was a significant positive, along with the earnings beat. The medical device segment has been hammered by Trump tariffs and a recent antitrust lawsuit Johnson & Johnson lost in May, which resulted in a $147 million payout. "We expect these results will be well received/should translate favorably as we think about the rest of the biopharma group," Schott wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "And finally on MedTech, the quarter's beat is a step in the right direction for the segment following recent controversies." CEO Joaquin Duato said in a statement the company is looking to make up first-half softness in the second half of the year. "Our portfolio and pipeline position us for elevated growth in the second half of the year, with game-changing approvals and submissions anticipated in areas like lung and bladder cancer, major depressive disorder, psoriasis, surgery, and cardiovascular, which will extend and improve lives in transformative ways," he said. J&J, like other big pharma peers, faces patent expiry of some of its biggest drugs in the coming years. How it will fill that gap once it loses its drugs' market share to generic competition remains to be seen. J&J faced its first generic competition this year with Stelara, and the company attributed that to some of the loss in the second quarter. "Growth was partially offset by an approximate (1,170) basis points impact from Stelara in Immunology, and an approximate (130) basis points impact from COVID-19 in Infectious Diseases," the earnings statement said. In addition, Stelara had been embroiled in Medicare's drug pricing negotiations as part of the Inflation Reduction Act signed by the prior administration. Jay Woods, Freedom Capital Markets' chief global strategist, recently told Yahoo Finance that the stock has been stuck "in a neutral pattern" for some time. Woods said it's a great long-term play with consistent returns and dividends, but all eyes are on how J&J and others are going to manage their M&A strategy to account for the significant revenue losses attributed to patent expiries. Wolk told Yahoo Finance the company is looking at a strong balance sheet, with $20 billion on hand, plus capital deployment of $55 billion in the last few years for large to small M&A deals. Of the $55 billion, $10 billion was used on 80 small deals, he said. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, provider services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Is Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) a Good Stock to Buy before Earnings?
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is set to report its second-quarter earnings on July 16, and analysts are expecting the healthcare giant to post steady results. Indeed, Wall Street is forecasting earnings of $2.68 per share on revenue of $22.87 billion, which would represent modest growth of around 1.9% compared to last year. The company's full-year earnings estimates have also been slightly raised by analysts to a range of $10.62 to $11.00 per share. JNJ's Pharmaceutical segment remains its primary growth driver, as pictured below. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. In fact, this unit grew by about 4.2% in Q1 and continues to benefit from strong sales of cancer treatment Darzalex as well as Tremfya, which grew by 20%. In addition, new filings with the FDA, including pediatric use for Stelara and additional CNS therapies, indicate that the firm has a healthy pipeline going forward. Meanwhile, the MedTech division, which includes devices and surgical technology, grew by 4.1%. It is worth noting that this unit has faced pricing pressure in China, but recent acquisitions like Abiomed and Shockwave could help revive sales in 2025. As investors look ahead to the report, key things to watch include the company's full-year guidance to see whether J&J will reaffirm its revenue outlook of around $91–91.8 billion and EPS range of $10.50–$10.70. Investors should also focus on how the company is managing costs, especially with MedTech facing about $400 million in tariff exposure and the upcoming biosimilar competition for top drugs like Stelara. Lastly, any updates on drug approvals, product launches, or how J&J plans to integrate new biotech acquisitions could offer insights into long-term growth. Options Traders Anticipate a Large Move Using TipRanks' Options tool, we can see what options traders are expecting from the stock immediately after its earnings report. The expected earnings move is determined by calculating the at-the-money straddle of the options closest to expiration after the earnings announcement. If this sounds complicated, don't worry, the Options tool does this for you. Indeed, it currently says that options traders are expecting a 2.6% move in either direction. Is JNJ Stock a Good Buy? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on JNJ stock based on seven Buys, nine Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average JNJ price target of $173.47 per share implies 10.6% upside potential.
