olysio

J&J's overall and pharma sales are down year on year

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%.

Three drugs to treat chronic bowel condition ulcerative colitis and one for hepatitis C will be funded by the NHS following final guidance recommendations by NICE.

The UK health watchdog says Merck’s Remicade (infliximab), AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab) and Merck’s Simponi (golimumab) should be recommended as an option for treating moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.

Johnson & Johnson earned a 10% increase in worldwide sales of its drugs in the last quarter of 2014 compared with last year according to the firm’s latest financials.

The company’s global drug sales rose from $7.3 billion in Q4 2013 to $8 billion in the last quarter of 2014 – a 9.6% increase. J&J says the results were driven by its pharmaceutical arm Janssen’s new products.

Janssen’s hepatitis C drug Olysio has been approved by NICE whilst also reaching a novel ‘pay if you clear’ pricing agreement with the NHS.

The payment scheme means that NHS England will only pay for Olysio (simeprevir) if patients are effectively cured of the virus after 12 weeks of treatment, with Janssen refunding the cost for those who aren’t. Trials so far have found a cure rate of around 80% after 12 weeks of using the drug.

Johnson & Johnson saw sales rise 9.1% to $19.5 billion year on year on the back of a strong performance from key brands including new hep C drug Olysio, blood thinner Xarelto and cancer treatment Zytiga.

Worldwide pharma sales jumped 21.1% to $8.5 billion, with domestic sales up 36.6% and international revenues increasing by 6.8%. International consumer sales were up 2.4% to $3.7 billion across the group.

Johnson & Johnson’s sales in the fourth quarter of 2013 rose 4.5% compared to the same period in the previous year.

The company posted $18.4 billion of sales in the three months to the end of the year - while worldwide sales for the whole of 2013 were also up, this time by 6.1%, on 2012 to $71.3 billion.

Pharma was the key driver in all this, with sales of $28.1 billion for the full-year 2013 representing an increase of 10.9% year-on-year: US sales were up 12.3% with international sales rising 9.6 per cent.

US regulators have approved Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ Olysio, a new therapy to treat chronic hepatitis C virus infection, after a priority review.

Protease inhibitor Olysio (simeprevir) blocks a specific protein needed by the hepatitis C virus to replicate and is approved for use in combination with peginterferon-alfa and ribavirin.

It will be used in treatment-naïve adults with compensated liver disease - that is, a diseased liver that is still functioning - which may include cirrhosis, or patients for whom previous treatment has not been effective.