Janssen sales follow J&J’s downward trend
pharmafile | July 15, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | J&J, JJ, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson and Johnson, financial results, olysio
Strong sales of its new hepatitis C treatment Olysio were not enough to stop a slump in profits at J&J’s pharmaceutical arm Janssen.
Janssen’s sales fell to $7.9 billion in the second quarter of 2015, a decrease of 6.6% compared to the year before, according to the health care giant’s latest financial results.
The firm says it has been hit in the last year by the effects of a negative currency impact. Excluding the net impact of acquisitions and divestments, worldwide sales increased 1.5%, domestic sales decreased 0.6% and international sales rose by 3.9%.
Strong sales of hepatitis C treatment Olysio (simeprevir) helped bucked the trend and yielded underlying operational worldwide growth of 9.7%. However sales of Olysio were hit by ‘competitive entrants’ into the market – including Gilead’s Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s forthcoming treatment Daklinza (daclatasvir), which has been submitted for approval by the FDA.
Janssen also cited strong growth in new products including Invokana and Invokamet (canagliflozin) for type 2 diabetes, Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for certain blood cancers, its collaboration with Bayer to market the oral anticoagulant Xarelto (rivaroxaban), and Zytiga (abiraterone acetate), for prostate cancer.
Janssen is also anticipating further revenue contributions from the recently FDA-approved Invega Trinza (paliperidone palmitate), a quarterly injection for people with schizophrenia.
In July the company completed its FDA submission for daratumumab for multiple myeloma. It has already earned approval from the European Commission for its psoriasis treatment Stelara (ustekinumab), for Simponi (golimumab) for treatment of the musculoskeletal condition axial spondyloarthritis and for Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for a rare cancer called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.
Overall the J&J group achieved sales of $17.8 billion for the second quarter of 2015, a decrease of 8.8% compared to the second quarter of 2014.
Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, says: “Our solid sales and earnings results in the quarter reflect the strong underlying growth we’re seeing across the enterprise.
“Our diverse portfolio and scale are enabling this performance, and we’ve continued to invest in building a robust enterprise pipeline that will drive our growth over the long term. Our passion to deliver transformational new medicines and products reflects the ongoing commitment of our dedicated employees to improve health and well-being.”
Lilian Anekwe
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