BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB

Aug 6, 2020

Brand Name Drug Company Completes Sweep of Big Pharma Giants Who Beat Wall Street Expectations After 2020 Price Hikes

In a final round of second quarter earnings reports, another Big Pharma giant announced they surpassed earnings expectations after hiking prices on American patients. Bristol-Myers Squibb reported sky-high profits after hiking prices on American patients earlier this year.

  • The brand name company’s sales for the quarter surged 62 percent to $10.13 billion – topping analysts’ expectations.
  • Sales of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis rose six percent to $2.16 billion
  • Sales of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s other blockbuster cancer drug Revlimid also rose six percent to $2.88 billion.
The brand name company’s expectation-besting earnings come after it participated in a series of price hikes in the past year, despite the mounting crisis of affordability across the country.
  • In the first week of July, Bristol-Myers Squibb was among Big Pharma giants that announced new price hikes despite the unprecedented economic uncertainty facing millions of Americans grappling with the pandemic
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb started off the new year by hiking prices on at least ten medications, including two key cancer drugs, Opdivo and Revlimid, as well as, on blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis.
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired Revlimid in a $74 billion deal with Celgene in November. On the day the deal was announced, Celgene boosted the price of Revlimid to $719.82. The drug cost $247.28 in 2007.
  • This was business as usual for Bristol-Myers Squibb. From 2015 to 2019 the company had the most price hikes per drug of any Big Pharma company.

Bristol-Myers Squibb rounds out a list of Big Pharma giants who all reported expectation-besting earnings for the first quarter of 2020 after hiking prices on American patients – AbbVie, Merck, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Pfizer, Amgen, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson.