BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: ASTRAZENECA, BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB AND ELI LILLY

Eli Lilly Signals Plan to Maintain Unsustainably High Prices on Blockbuster GLP-1s

This week, brand name drug companies AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations. All three Big Pharma giants reported strong earnings after having engaged in price hikes across their portfolios to start the year.

During the Eli Lilly earnings call, a Jefferies Group analyst raised a question regarding the Big Pharma giant’s pricing strategy around its GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss. In response, Executive Vice President and CFO Lucas Montarce pointed to the brand name drug maker maintaining unsustainably high prices on these blockbuster products, saying “there is still single-digit erosion on our pricing trends, and that’s the same trends that I alluded that will continue into 2025.”

Numerous analyses have found Big Pharma’s egregious prices on blockbuster GLP-1 drugs are unsustainable for American patients, taxpayers, and the U.S. health care system. In an October 2024 report, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found Medicare coverage of anti-obesity medications (AOMs), including blockbuster brand name GLP-1s, would “would increase federal spending, on net, by about $35 billion from 2026 to 2034.” Learn more on the implications of Big Pharma’s unsustainably high GLP-1 prices HERE.

Get the full recap of AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly’s strong earnings fueled by egregious pricing practices here:

AstraZeneca

• AstraZeneca reported earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations.
• AstraZeneca reported $14.89 billion in sales for Q4, an 18 percent increase year over year.
• The Big Pharma giant’s strong performance came from sales of its cardiovascular, renal and metabolism portfolio, including diabetes drug Farxiga and hyperkalemia drug Lokelma, earning $1.94 billion and $150 million, respectively. 
• The company’s top business unit, oncology, brought in $5.34 billion for the quarter.

Bristol Myers Squibb

• Bristol Myers Squibb reported earnings that beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations, with sales for the quarter at $12.3 billion, up eight percent year over year.
• Their blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis brought $3.2 billion in sales for the quarter, up 11 percent from the same period last year.
• Sales for cancer drug Opdivo rose to $2.48 billion, a four percent rise year over year.
• Bristol Myers Squibb’s rheumatoid arthritis drug, Orencia, increased two percent, bringing total sales to $1 billion.

Eli Lilly

• Eli Lilly reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
• The Big Pharma giant saw overall sales of $13.53 billion, up 45 percent from the same period a year ago.
• The company’s GLP-1 drugs experienced sales increases, with Zepbound bringing in $1.9 billion and Mounjaro at $3.5 billion.
• Eli Lilly raised its guidance for 2025 due to a strong Q4 performance.

The strong earnings reports from these three Big Pharma giants follow their consistent strategy of hiking prices on blockbuster drugs across each company’s portfolios.  

AstraZeneca

• AstraZeneca has hiked prices on 19 prescription drugs so far in 2025, including diabetes drug Farxiga by three percent and Lokelma by five percent.
• AstraZeneca increased prices on 17 prescription drugs to start off 2024, including oncology drugs Tagrisso and Lynparza by three percent each.
• AstraZeneca hiked prices on at least 25 prescription drugs in 2023, including best-selling oncology drugs Tagrisso by three percent and Lynparza by 6.8 percent.
• The brand-name drug maker hiked prices on 23 medications in 2022.

Bristol Myers Squibb

• Bristol Myers Squibb started the year by hiking prices of 10 prescription drugs, including blood thinner drug Eliquis and cancer drug Opdivo by two percent.
• The Big Pharma giant kicked off 2024 by increasing prices on more than 10 prescription drugs, including a six percent increase on Eliquis.
• In 2023, the pharmaceutical giant kick started the year by raising prices on 10 prescription drugs, including blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis by six percent.
• Bristol Myers Squibb began 2022 by hiking prices on nine prescription drugs, including two key cancer drugs, Opdivo and Yervoy, as well as blockbuster blood thinner drug Eliquis.

Eli Lilly

• Eli Lilly began 2025 by increasing prices on 10 prescription drugs, including GLP-1 drug Zepbound by 2.5 percent. 
• Eli Lilly hiked prices on 10 prescription drugs in 2024, including oncology drug Verzenio by six percent, as well as blockbuster diabetes drugs Trulicity and Mounjaro by five percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
• Eli Lilly started 2023 by raising prices on 15 prescription drugs, including blockbuster diabetes drugs Trulicity and Mounjaro, both by five percent. Eli Lilly also hiked the price of its best-selling oncology drug Verzenio by 5.5 percent.
• The company began 2022 with more than a dozen price hikes, including a five percent increase on Trulicity.
• In the summer of 2022, Eli Lilly increased the price of its COVID-19 antibody treatment by an estimated 14 percent as coverage shifted to the commercial market from the U.S. government.

Read more on Q4 earnings from Johnson & Johnson HERE.

Read more on Q4 earnings from AbbVie, Novartis and Roche HERE.

Read more on Q4 earnings from Merck and Pfizer HERE.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor fourth quarter earnings calls from brand name drug companies in the coming weeks.

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

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