J&J profit edges past Street view after deals delay Stelara competition
By Bhanvi Satija and Patrick Wingrove
(Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday reported quarterly results just above Wall Street expectations, helped by strong sales of its blockbuster psoriasis drug Stelara, which is expected to face fresh U.S. competition from biosimilar versions next year.
Separately, the New Jersey-based drugmaker has tentatively agreed to pay about $700 million to settle an investigation brought by more than 40 states into the marketing of its talc products, according to the Wall Street Journal.
J&J (NYSE:JNJ)'s worldwide vice president of litigation said in a statement that the company continues to pursue several paths to achieve a comprehensive and final resolution of the talc litigation. «As was leaked last week, that progress includes an agreement in principle that the company reached with a consortium of 43 State Attorneys General to resolve their talc claims,» he said.
A key Stelara patent expired in the United States last year, but J&J struck deals with competitors to delay the launches of their biosimilars until 2025. Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) will be the first to launch its near-copy, Wezlana, next year.
Analysts have said the delay in biosimilar launches would make Stelara a larger contributor to J&J's 2024 and 2025 sales than previously anticipated.
Sales of the drug are expected to be $10.54 billion in 2024, down 3% from the $10.86 billion in 2023. Fourth-quarter Stelara sales came in at $2.75 billion, topping analysts' estimates of $2.63 billion.
J&J said it expects entry of Stelara biosimilars in Europe toward the middle of 2024.
The fourth-quarter results did not reveal any «major surprises,» JP Morgan analyst Chris Schott (ETR:1SXP) said, adding that the company's pharmaceutical segment
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