J&J gets earnings boost from blockbuster psoriasis drug

Sales of Stelara are expected to be $10.54bn in 2024, down 3% from the $10.86bn in 2023

A key patent for J&J's Stelara psoriasis expired in the US last year.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has posted quarterly results just above expectations, helped by strong sales of its blockbuster psoriasis drug Stelara. 

A key patent for Stelara expired in the US last year, but J&J struck deals with competitors to delay the launches of their biosimilars until 2025. Amgen 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 $10.54bn in 2024, down 3% from the $10.86bn in 2023. Fourth-quarter Stelara sales came in at $2.75bn, topping analysts' estimates. J&J said it expected 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 said, adding the company's pharmaceutical segment was well positioned to generate mid-single-digit growth despite pending Stelara competition.

J&J's medical device business, which has benefited from a resurgence in demand for joint replacement and other surgeries delayed during the pandemic, generated revenue of $7.67bn. 

Chief financial officer Joseph Wolk said not only had demand for medical devices rebounded since the end of the pandemic, but it had risen further in December.

J&J's cancer treatment Carvykti, which had sales of $159m for the quarter, belongs to a class known as CAR-T therapies that have come under scrutiny over a safety issue. 

• Reuters