• by Les Luchter , January 22, 2025

Darzalex, which treats multiple myeloma, has become the first Johnson & Johnson drug to ever top $3 billion in quarterly sales.

The final tally of $3.1 billion, a 20.9% year-over-year increase, was revealed as J&J released its fourth quarter 2024 earnings on Wednesday morning. For the full year, Darzalex sales were $11.7 billion, up 22%.

J&J, which traditionally kicks off the quarterly parade of Big Pharma earnings reports, already has several competitors with brands in the $3-billion-plus club.  During Q3, according to researcher Maven Bio, those included Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda, which topped $7 billion; Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 Ozempic, over $4 billion; as well as Gilead’s HIV-fighter Biktarvy, Abbvie’s psoriasis drug Skyrizi, and Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 Mounjaro.

Darzalex replaced psoriasis drug Stelara as J&J’s top seller.

Stelara, whose Q4 sales fell 14.7% to $2.3 billion, has been the victim of both the introduction of competing biosimilar brands and its inclusion as one of the first 10 drugs forced to negotiate reduced Medicare prices under the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Stelara’s decline didn't faze J&J CEO Joaquin Duato, who told analysts on the firm’s earnings call that “I cannot think of any other company that would be able to deliver growth through the first year of losing exclusivity of a multibillion-dollar product.”

The company's total growth amounted to a 4.3% sales increase to $88.8 billion for all of 2024, including a 5.3% YoY increase to $22.5 billion in Q4. For 2025, J&J is projecting growth of 2% to 3%, with sales between $91 billion and $91.7 billion.

“With Spravato [an antidepressant] surpassing $1 billion in annual sales, we now have 26 platforms that generate at least $1 billion in annual revenue,” Duato said.

One falling just short in 2024 was another drug that treats multiple myeloma, Carvykti, which saw sales of $963 million, a 92.7% leap over 2023. Jennifer Taubert, chairman of J&J’s Innovative Medicine (pharma) division, told analysts Wednesday that the brand has just “reached our 5,000th patient infused with Carvykti,… the most successful cell therapy launch in the industry."

One year ago, Duato predicted that Carvykti would eventually become a $5 billion brand.

Taubert also said that Tremfya, another J&J psoriasis drug, would be picking up patients switching from Stelara. In 2024, Tremfya had sales of $3.6 billion, a 16.6% increase.

Also on the earnings call, J&J CFO Joe Wolk reported “progress toward resolving the talc litigation,” referring to the cancer-related claims stemming from J&J’s former consumer division’s use of talcum in baby products and other products.

J&J has sought bankruptcy for a subsidiary it created to house its talc problem, and Wolk said that “our pre-packaged bankruptcy plan received overwhelming support from current claimants and the futures claims representative, and that support has only increased in recent months.

“The next milestone is the scheduled confirmation hearing commencing on February 18th in the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court.”