BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: JOHNSON & JOHNSON, ROCHE, NOVARTIS

Big Pharma Kicks Off Q2 Earnings Calls After More than 100 Price Hikes to Start July

This week, Roche, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson kicked off the first round of Big Pharma earnings reports for the second quarter of 2022. After drug companies raised prices on more than 100 brand-name pharmaceuticals in the first week of July, Big Pharma continues to surpass earnings expectations while growing sales and posting massive profits.

Johnson & Johnson

• Johnson & Johnson topped Wall Street analysts’ profit estimates, up 4 percent from the same period last year.
• Pharmaceuticals sales for the quarter were up 7 percent to $13.3 billion.
• Strong sales were driven by double-digit growth in sales of cancer drug Darzalex and Crohn’s disease drug Stelara.

Roche

• Roche reported strong earnings for the second quarter of the year, driven by higher sales in the company’s pharmaceutical division.
• The pharmaceutical company posted a net profit of $8.78 billion for the first half of the year.
• The company’s pharmaceuticals division grew by 3 percent, driven by strong sales of multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus, spinal muscular atrophy drug Evrysdi and hemophilia drug Hemlibra, which grew by 17 percent, 106 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Novartis

• Novartis reported earnings that beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations for Q2 this year.
• Novartis’ innovative medicines business generated $10.5 billion, up five percent year over year.
• Sales of the company’s blockbuster arthritis drug Cosentyx increased 12 percent year over year while sales of heart drug Entresto surged 33 percent year over year.

The blockbuster earnings come as Big Pharma giants have hiked prices on hundreds of prescription drugs. July is typically the second busiest month for price hikes on prescription drugs and, as expected, brand name drug makers have hiked prices on 112 prescription drugs so far this month. The Big Pharma drug makers who reported second quarter earnings this week all share a history of hiking prices and engaging in egregious pricing practices.

Johnson & Johnson

• The brand name giant began 2022 by hiking prices on nearly 30 prescription drugs.
• The year-over-year sales increase was led by multiple myeloma drug Darzalex and popular arthritis drug Stelara.
• In 2020, Johnson & Johnson hiked prices more than two dozen timesat an average rate more than double the rate of inflation.
• 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.

Roche

• As sales have climbed, Roche has repeatedly hiked prices on products in its portfolio.
• In the first week of 2020, Roche hiked prices on 11 drugs.
• Blockbuster cancer drug Perjeta was named one of the top 25 drugs pushing costs up in Oregon.
• A report released in late 2019 found that Roche’s price hikes on the popular drug Rituxan were not supported by innovation or improvements and cost U.S. taxpayers $806 million.

Novartis

• This month, Novartis raised the price of Adakveo, a popular treatment for sickle cell disease for adults.
• Novartis began 2022 by hiking prices on more than 20 prescription drugs – including a seven percent increase on breast cancer drug Kisqali.
• Novartis increased prices 20 times in January of 2021 and more than 30 times in 2020, including a seven percent hike on blockbuster psoriasis drug Cosentyx each year.
• Novartis increased prices at least 57 times in 2019 by an average of 6.3 percent.
• Novartis hiked the prices of Cosentyx and Entresto in 2019 by a staggering 10 percent each.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor earnings calls from Big Pharma for Q2 of 2022 over the next few weeks.

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