Johnson & Johnson forecast revenue growth for 2024 that could be as high as 6%, putting much of its focus on expanding its medtech business in cardiovascular, robotics and digital — as well as its innovative medicine portfolio, which includes psoriatic arthritis treatment Stelara.
In a meeting with investors Tuesday, J&J unveiled its long-term strategy and financial outlook, highlighting Tecvalyi, Spravato, Talvey and JNJ-2113 as being key drivers of future growth.
The pharma company noted in a press release that it expects at least 3% operational sales growth in 2025, despite the fact that biosimilars for its Stelara will likely be in the market then.
Stelara has been J&J’s key driver of sales since 2019, bringing in $9.7 billion in revenue in 2022 across its several indications, including psoriatic arthritis and Crohn’s disease.
However, with Stelara’s patents beginning to expire this year, J&J has been on the defensive aiming to delay biosimilar entry.
The company sued Amgen in November 2022 over Amgen’s biosimilar, and reached a legal settlement earlier this year that would prevent the drug from entering the market until 2025.
This came two months after the Department of Health and Human Services listed the drug as among the first 10 chosen for Medicare price negotiations. However, HHS recently hinted that, depending on potential biosimilar competition, Stelara may be removed from the drug list.
Additionally, AbbVie released promising Phase 3 data in September indicating that Skyrizi met both primary endpoints of non-inferiority to Stelara in terms of clinical remission at week 24 and superiority versus the older drug for endoscopic remission at week 48.
In positive news for J&J, Iceland-based Alvotech disclosed in October that its biosimilar candidate to Stelara was rejected by the Food and Drug Administration due to shortfalls found during a March inspection of the facility.
Since J&J spun off its consumer health unit as Kenvue earlier this year, it’s further honed its focus on its medical devices business.
In its strategy outlook, the pharma said it plans to expand its medtech presence into high-growth markets like cardiovascular and digital. The pharma giant projected it would grow operational sales between 5% to 7% annually through 2027. The company also said it could generate one-third of sales from new medtech products in 2027.
J&J said it plans to further expand its pipeline by focusing on new therapies and expects to produce some 20 new drugs and 50 product expansions by 2030. J&J’s forecast for its Innovation Medicine pipeline is 5 to 7% operational sales growth from 2025-2030.
J&J highlighted Talvey — which was approved by the FDA in August for the treatment of heavily pretreated multiple myeloma — as well as Tecvayli and JNJ-2113 as assets that have potential to bring in $5 billion in operational sales.
J&J CEO Joaquin Duato stated that he expects science and tech to advance human health more in the next decade than it did in the last century, which will result in more effective and personalized treatments, earlier intervention and less invasive healthcare.
“We are excited to share today how the breadth of our scientific capabilities, diverse portfolio and robust pipelines uniquely position J&J to be a leader in this next wave of innovation while delivering strong financial performance,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify Johnson & Johnson’s growth drivers.
