Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) reported a mixed bag of results for the third quarter, with new drug sales up even as its popular blood cancer drug Revlimid fell 41% to $1.43 billion owing to generic competition. The anticoagulant Eliquis is in a similar position, but was also selected to be one of the first 10 drugs eligible for the new Medicare negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act.

In the third quarter, BMS’s new product portfolio raked in $928 million in the quarter — up 68% year-over-year. “Based on the performance year to date, we now expect the new product portfolio to deliver roughly $3.5 billion for the full year 2023,” said CFO David Elkins in an earnings call. The company expects its new drug portfolio to reach $10 billion in sales by 2026.

Still, the company delayed its projections that its new drugs would hit at least $10 billion to 2026 from its earlier projection of 2025. The de­lay comes as departing CEO Gio­van­ni Caforio is handing the reins to Chris Boern­er, now chief operating officer, on November 1.

Dur­ing the earn­ings call, Boern­er noted that the company has witnessed slow­er-than-ex­pect­ed growth for two of its new drugs: Camzyos, ap­proved for a rare heart con­di­tion, and So­tyk­tu for pso­ri­a­sis.

Opdualag, Zeposia and Reblozyl shine

Drugs that stood out in Q3 include Opdualag (up 98% to $166 million), Zeposia (up 75% to $123 million), and Reblozyl (up 31% to $248 million).

Opdualag is a premixed combination of nivolumab and relatlimab for adults with advanced melanoma. Opdualag is “on the path to become the new standard of care in first-line melanoma,” said Boerner in an earnings call.

Zeposia (ozanimod) treats relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) in adults. Reblozyl (luspatercept-aamt) is an anemia therapy for adults with beta thalassemia who require regular red blood cell transfusions.

While Zeposia is also available for ulcerative colitis, following a May 2021 FDA approval, “access [for that indication] has been a constraint that will require continued focus to unlock future growth,” Boerner said.

Stock market reaction: BMY shares down following Q3 earnings report

Overall, BMS raked in $10.96 billion in revenue for Q3, reflecting a 2% dip from the same period last year, largely as a result of flagging demand for Revlimid.

In terms of full-year guidance, the company is expecting a low single-digit percentage decline. BMS has increased its full-year revenue projection for Revlimid to $6 billion. 

After announcing the results, BMY shares fell more than 6% to $52.97. Its share price is down more than a quarter so far this year while the S&P 500 is up about 8%.