BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Price Hikes Fuel Q2 Earnings Beat For Brand Name Giant

As millions of Americans continue to grapple with the economic impact of the COVD-19 pandemic, the first earnings report for the second quarter of 2020 from a Big Pharma giant demonstrates that hiking prices on American patients continues to be a profitable practice for the industry.

Today, brand name drug company Johnson & Johnson reported better than expected Q2 earnings after hiking prices earlier this year.

• Johnson & Johnson reported a revenue of $18.34 billion, compared to analyst expectations of $17.73 billion.
• This quarter, the company reported an earnings surprise of 11.33 percent. Johnson and Johnson has now surpassed earnings expectations three times over the last four quarters.
• Pharmaceutical sales were up 3.9 percent – driven by blockbuster drugs Stelara and cancer drugs Darzalex and Imbruvica.

Johnson & Johnson’s better than expected earnings come as the company has continued to hike prices on their prescription drugs, despite a growing crisis of affordability.

• Already this year, Johnson & Johnson has hiked prices 60 times at an average rate of over two times the rate of inflation.
• Johnson & Johnson raised the price of its blockbuster drug Stelara by nearly five percent this year.
• 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 over nine years.
• In 2018, Johnson & Johnson sought to triple the price of Imbruvica, only to ultimately back down amid fierce public blowback

Check back next week as we continue to monitor Q2 earnings announcements from brand name drug companies.