BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: JOHNSON & JOHNSON

J&J Beats Q1 Earnings Expectations, Announces Dividend Increase 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 first quarter of 2022. Yet again, the Big Pharma giant surpassed Wall Street analysts’ earnings expectations, growing sales and posting massive profits after hiking prices on several prescription drugs in their portfolio amid the winter pandemic surge.

• Johnson & Johnson beat Wall Street earnings expectations, raking in a massive $23.4 billion in first-quarter sales, growing 5 percent over the same quarter last year.
• The company forecasted 2022 sales to exceed $95 billion, higher than last year’s total.
• Johnson & Johnson reported $12.87 billion in pharmaceutical sales in Q1, an increase of 6.3 percent over the same quarter last year.
• Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical division performed strongly, including myeloma drug Darzalex, which brought in $1.86 billion in the quarter, and plaque psoriasis drug Stelara, which brought in $2.29 billion.
• Buoyed by strong earnings, the company announced a dividend increase of 6.6 percent.

The blockbuster earnings come as Johnson & Johnson hiked prices on dozens of prescription drugs this year, adding to the growing list of price hikes the company has launched since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The brand name giant rang in the new year by hiking prices on nearly 30 prescription drugs.
• Johnson & Johnson raised the price of top-performing drugs Stelara and Darzalex 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 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 drug 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.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor earnings calls from Big Pharma for Q1 of 2022 over the next few weeks.

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