Johnson & Johnson has announced its first earnings following its decision to rebrand its pharma segment as Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in September. In the third quarter of 2023, the company reported sales growth of 6.8%, amounting to $21.4 billion. 

The bestseller for the company was Stelara with sales amounting to $2.864 billion.

J&J’s oncology segment also continues to be a strong performer. Within oncology, the multiple myeloma therapy Darzalex took the spotlight with quarterly sales hitting $2.5 billion. Next in line were Imbruvica, primarily used to treat certain types of B-cell malignancies, with sales of $808 million and Erleada, a prostate cancer drug, with $631 million in sales.

Other strong performers included the blood thinner Xarelto with sales of $625 million and, Opsumit, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which contributed $490 million to J&J’s bottom line.

During the earnings call, Joaquin Duato, chairman and CEO, highlighted the company’s confidence in its portfolio, stating, “We are very pleased with the performance of our immunology business, especially Tremfya with 25.1% growth in the quarter.”

The company projected in 2021 that Tremfya would hit $5 billion in sales. “Now you can see clearly that we’re going not only to meet that but to clearly exceed that benchmark for Tremfya,” Duato said. 

He described Tremfya, Erleada, and Uptravi, along with long-acting injectables, as “key assets,” but gave special credit to Darzalex, noting it “continues to have a tremendous trajectory gaining share in first line.”

The company is aiming to have its pharma division hit a $57 billion target by 2025

When it came to the fastest growth, Spravato was at the front of the pack with a 82.1% growth rate. Other drugs with swift growth included Erleada (28.7%), Darzalex (21.8%), Edurant/rilpivirine (21.0%), and Uptravi (20.7%).

On the flip side, some products experienced significant sales drops, with the COVID-19vaccine leading this decline at -91.5%, followed by Zytig /abiraterone acetate (-53.0%), Remicade (-17.4%), Imbruvica (-11.3%), and Xarelto (-9.4%).

The Innovative Medicine segment witnessed a growth of 5.1% compared to its 2022 figures. Its MedTech segment fared better, posting 10.0% growth over the previous year. One factor driving growth of the segment was J&J’s acquisition of Abiomed, which drove 4.6% to the operational sales growth. Strong sales of electrophysiology products, wound closure products, and contact lenses were also contributors to the MedTech business’s success.

Toward the end of the earnings call, Duato emphasized the company’s future trajectory, noting that the company is “excited about the growth profile of our Innovative Medicine group as we head into the second half of the decade.” Duato expressed confidence in their strong pipeline, especially in immunology and oncology.