BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: NOVARTIS AND PFIZER

Big Pharma Giants Keep Beating Wall Street Expectations While Continuing to Hike Prices

In case you missed it, two brand name pharmaceutical giants, Novartis, and Pfizer, recently reported third quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street analysts’ expectations, with each drug maker raising their guidance for the year. Like other Big Pharma giants this quarter, the brand name drug makers reported strong earnings following continued pricing hikes on their blockbuster drugs.

Novartis

• Novartis reported Q3 earnings that exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
• The Big Pharma company reported sales of $12.82 billion in the quarter, up 20 percent from the same period past year.
• The company’s best-selling drugs — heart treatment Entresto and arthritis treatment Cosentyx — brought in $1.86 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.
• Sales of the company’s fastest-growing medication, cholesterol treatment Leqvio, brought in $198 million, beating analysts’ expectations.
• Sales for Novartis’ multiple sclerosis treatment Kesimpta rose by 27 percent, bringing in $1.69 billion — up a whopping 65 percent year over year.
• Due to a strong Q3 performance, Novartis raised its profit guidance for the third time this year.

Pfizer

• Pfizer exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations for the third quarter in a row.
• The Big Pharma giant earned $17.7 billion in revenue, up 31 percent from the same period last year.
• Pfizer’s COVID-19 portfolio reported strong sales, with its antiviral Paxlovid bringing in $2.7 billion and its vaccine Comirnaty bringing in $1.4 billion.
• The Big Pharma giant’s oncology drugs brought in $4 billion in sales, with prostate cancer treatment Xtandi bringing in $561 million and bladder cancer treatment Padcev bringing in $409 million.  
• The company’s cardiomyopathy drug Vyndaqel brought in $1.45 billion while blood thinner treatment Eliquis brought in another $1.62 billion in revenue.
• Pfizer raised its profit guidance due to its strong Q3 earnings.

These Big Pharma giant’s strong Q3 earnings reflect their continued practice of increasing prices on blockbuster drugs.

Novartis

• Novartis increased prices on more than 60 prescription drugs in its portfolio so far this year, including arthritis treatment Cosentyx by seven percent and heart treatment Entresto by three percent.
• Novartis hiked prices on almost 70 prescription medications in January last year, including breast cancer drug Kisqali by eight percent.
• The drug maker also increased prices on an additional 10 products last summer.
• Novartis began 2022 by hiking prices on more than 20 prescription drugs, including a seven percent increase on Kisqali. That summer, Novartis increased prices on another 50 prescription drugs across its portfolio.
• Novartis increased prices on more than 20 prescription drugs in January of 2021 and 2020, including a seven percent hike on blockbuster psoriasis drug Cosentyx each year.

Pfizer

• Pfizer has already hiked prices on almost 100 prescription drugs this year.
• Price hikes so far this year include a six percent increase on breast cancer drug IBRANCE, a seven percent increase on cardiomyopathy drug Vyndaqel and a 4.9 percent increase on arthritis drug Xeljanz.
• In 2023, Pfizer hiked drug prices on 122 medications and in 2022 the company hiked prices on 168 prescription products in their portfolio.

Read more on Q3 earnings from Johnson & Johnson HERE.

Read more on Q3 earnings from Roche and Sanofi HERE.

Read more on Q3 earnings from AbbVie, Amgen and GSK HERE.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor third 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.