Big Pharma Earnings Watch: Johnson & Johnson

Price Hikes Fuel Better Than Expected Earnings For Brand Name Giant

As millions of Americans struggle to afford their medications amid unprecedented health care and economic challenges, the first earnings report from a Big Pharma giant demonstrates that hiking prices on American patients continues to be a profitable practice for the industry.

Today, brand name drug company Johnson & Johnson reported better than expected Q1 earnings after hiking prices earlier this year.

• Johnson & Johnson’s Q1 profit “shot up as the coronavirus health crisis drove demand for over-the-counter medicine.”
• The company reported a net income of net income of $5.8 billion, beating last quarter’s net income by a whopping $2 billion.
• Pharmaceutical sales increased 8.7 percent to about $11.13 billion – driven by blockbuster drugs Stelara and cancer drugs Darzalex and Imbruvica.
• This quarter, the brand name drug giant reported sales of a whopping $ $20.69 billion – beating analysts’ expectations.
• Johnson & Johnson’s better than expected earnings come as the company has continued to hikeprices on their prescription drugs, despite a growing crisis of affordability.

• Already this year, Johnson & Johnson has hiked prices 68 times at an average rate of over two times the rate of inflation.
• Johnson & Johnson raised the price of its blockbuster drug Stelara by nearly five percent this year.
• The company’s blockbuster cancer drug Imbruvica costs an eye-popping $180,000 per year.
• In 2018, Johnson & Johnson sought to triple the price of Imbruvica, only to ultimately back down amid fierce public blowback

Check back next week as we continue to monitor Q1 earnings announcements from brand name drug companies.