Johnson & Johnson's immunology superstar Stelara and oncology blockbuster Darzalex have long been among the company's top revenue contributors. Now, with biosimilar and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)-related threats picking up for Stelara, J&J isn’t sweating too much thanks in part to a record quarter for Darzalex.
During the third quarter, J&J's multiple myeloma stalwart Darzalex delivered worldwide sales growth of more than 20%, which the company attributed to “continued strong share gains in all regions.” The drug is the first in J&J’s portfolio to deliver $3 billion in sales during a single quarter, J&J CEO Joaquin Duato noted on the company’s earnings conference call Tuesday.
While Darzalex generated much of the company’s $5.4 billion in overall oncology sales, CAR-T therapy Carvykti grew sales a whopping 87% from last year's third quarter. The drug's sales reached $286 million during the most recent period, driven by capacity and manufacturing expansions, J&J said.
Given that manufacturing expansions tend to work in a "stair-step fashion,” growth figures for the multiple myeloma product may not look linear from quarter to quarter, J&J's worldwide chairman of innovative medicine, Jennifer Taubert, explained on the call.
Still, Carvkyti has reached more than 4,200 patients, and Taubert described it as “the most successful CAR-T launch across the industry.”
Elsewhere, in J&J's immunology group, the company is already seeing hits to its big-selling Stelara. Biosimilars in the U.S. will swarm the market in 2025, with Amgen and its copycat Wezlana leading the charge with its Jan. 1 market entry date.
On top of that, the drug made the list of the first ten drugs affected by the IRA's price negotiations, which will bring another hit in 2026.
So far, with biosimilars already biting off some sales in Europe, Stelara’s revenue dipped 6.6% during the third quarter to $2.6 billion. To pick up some slack in the immunology sector, J&J is busy building out its newer Tremfya, which generated $1 billion in quarterly sales.
While that med has a ways to go to reach Stelara's $2.67 billion in quarterly sales, a recent FDA nod for ulcerative colitis makes Tremfya a formidable contender in the crowded inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) space. In that arena, the drug is challenging rivals such as AbbVie’s Skyrizi and Eli Lilly’s Omvoh.
“We believe we truly have a winning proposition for [Tremfya] in IBD,” Taubert said. “We think that Tremfya definitely is an asset that is Stelara size or bigger and better.”
Overall, the company collected $22.5 billion in worldwide sales, $14.6 billion of which came from its innovative medicines sector.
Given the performance, the drugmaker lifted its 2024 revenue guidance to a new range of $89.4 billion to $89.8 billion. The new guidance calls for operational growth of 6.3% to 6.8%, a slight increase from July's guidance of 6.1% to 6.6%.