BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: JOHNSON & JOHNSON

J&J Surpasses Wall Street Expectations, Nearly Tripling Year-Over-Year Profits in Q4 After Hiking Prices on Dozens of Brand Name Drugs

This week, Johnson & Johnson kicked off the first round of Big Pharma earnings reports for the fourth quarter of 2021. As has become standard procedure for the Big Pharma giant, the company bested Wall Street analysts’ earnings expectations, bringing in massive profits while hiking prices on patients during the pandemic.

• Johnson & Johnson beat Wall Street earnings expectations, raking in a massive $24.8 billion in sales in the fourth quarter, up 10.4 percent year over year.
• Johnson & Johnson’s fourth-quarter profit surged to $4.74 billion, almost triple the $1.74 billion the company earned in Q4 of last year.
• The company expects 2022 full-year revenue to exceed $100 billion, and with a strong balance sheet, is “looking at acquisition opportunities.”
• Johnson & Johnson reported total 2021 sales of $94 billion. Pharmaceutical revenue made up the vast majority, bringing in $52 billion for the Big Pharma giant throughout the year – a 14.3 percent increase year over year

The blockbuster earnings come as Johnson & Johnson has hiked prices on products in their portfolio nearly 60 times since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has a history of hiking prices on critical medications.

• The brand name giant rang in the new year by hiking prices on nearly 30 prescription drugs.
• Johnson & Johnson raised the price of its popular arthritis drug Stelara and blood thinner medication Xarelto by more than five percent at the start of the year.
• Last year, the company raised prices on nearly 30 prescription drugs and in 2020, Johnson & Johnson hiked prices more than two dozen times at an average rate more than double the rate of inflation.
• Johnson & Johnson increased the price of schizophrenia medication Invega Sustenna by 10.7 percent in 2019 with no evidence that the drugs had been improved.
• The company’s blockbuster cancer drug Imbruvica costs an eye-popping $180,000 per year.
• Spending on Imbruvica is expected to exceed $41 billion from 2027-2036 thanks to an anti-competitive patent scheme which has already extended the monopoly on the cancer drug by more than nine years.
• In 2018, Johnson & Johnson sought to triple the price of Imbruvica, only to ultimately back down amid fierce public blowback.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor earnings calls from Big Pharma for Q4 of 2021 over the next few weeks.

Learn more about solutions to lower prescription drug prices and hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.