Strong cancer drug sales aid J&J earnings to beat estimates

Bengaluru — Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday reported first-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street estimates, driven again by strong sales of its cancer treatments including multiple myeloma medicine Darzalex.

The drugmaker also raised its 2025 sales forecast by $700m to reflect the addition of schizophrenia drug Caplyta to its portfolio, but tempered its profit estimates to reflect the impact of tariffs and dilution from its $14.6bn deal to buy neurological drugmaker Intra-Cellular.

J&J is the first major drug and device maker to report results after US President Donald Trump proposed hefty duties on trade partners including China, a key source of the pharmaceutical industry’s raw ingredients and supplies.

Shares of the drug and device maker rose nearly 1% to $155.59 in premarket trading. The stock is up 6.7% so far this year and was largely protected from a market rout earlier this month as pharmaceuticals were exempted from the first round of reciprocal tariffs. The broader S&P Healthcare Index has gained about 1% this year.

J&J’s quarterly sales stood at $21.89bn, up 2.4% from a year ago and above analysts’ expectations of $21.56bn, according to LSEG data.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned $2.77 per share in the quarter, 2.2% higher than the previous year and above analysts’ estimates of $2.59 per share.

The company now expects sales of $91.6bn to $92.4bn, compared with its previous forecast of $90.9bn and $91.7bn, driven by its purchase of Intra-Cellular’s top schizophrenia drug Caplyta.

J&J expects to earn $10.50 to $10.70 per share on an adjusted operational basis, excluding the impact of foreign currency, compared with its previous forecast of $10.75 to $10.95.

J&J CFO Joe Wolk said in an interview that the profit adjustment takes into account about $400m that was expected to be incurred in the company’s medtech business due to tariffs currently in place, including those on China and Mexico.

Quarterly sales for the company’s innovative medicines unit rose 2.3% to $13.87bn, beating analyst expectations of $13.43bn, while quarterly medtech revenue stood at $8.02bn, up 2.5% on the previous year but below Wall Street estimates of $8.17bn.

Wolk said that the company still expected, as indicated in its January guidance, that its medtech business would perform better in the second half of the year.

Innovative medicine revenue was buttressed by a 20% increase in Darzalex sales on the previous year. Darzalex, a blood cancer therapy launched in 2015, brought in first-quarter sales of $3.24bn, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05bn.

Sales of the drugmaker’s blockbuster psoriasis treatment Stelara fell more than 33% to $1.63bn in the first quarter, though it beat estimates of $1.42bn, according to LSEG data.

Close copies of Stelara were launched in Europe, Canada and a few other markets last year, while biosimilar rivals in the US were launched this year.

Reuters