BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: AMGEN

Brand Name Drug Giant Beats Wall Street Expectations After Price Hikes on Treatments for Osteoporosis, Heart Conditions and Cancer

Yet another Big Pharma giant proved what we already know – that hiking prices on American patients continues to be a profitable practice for the pharmaceutical industry. On Thursday, brand name drug company Amgen announced it had topped Wall Street expectations on its earnings in the fourth quarter.

• The company topped revenue expectations by raking in $6.2 billion in the fourth quarter.

• Amgen also beat expectations, reporting earnings per share of $3.64 for Q4, better than the estimate of $3.41.

• Over the last four quarters, the Big Pharma giant has surpassed expectations four times.

• Top-selling osteoporosis drug Prolia accounted for an eye-popping $752 million, up 15 percent from a year ago.

Amgen’s high earnings come after the company participated in a series of price hikes this past year, despite the mounting crisis of affordability across the country.

• In 2019, Amgen hiked the price of its blockbuster osteoporosis drug Prolia and heart medication Corlanor.

• Price hikes on the company’s cancer drug Neulasta were not supported by new clinical evidence and accounted for an unnecessary increase in U.S. drug spending of nearly $500 million from 2017-2018 according to the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).

And Amgen shows no signs of slowing down. Already this year, the company has hiked the price of five drugs – including on popular drug Prolia – by an average of five percent.

Amgen is just the latest Big Pharma giant to continue the trend of banking big time profits after participating in a series of price hikes over the past year. Stay tuned for another round of Big Pharma quarterly earnings next week.