Janssen Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
The international sale of Covid vaccines helped create sparks Johnson & Johnsonrevenue and profits broke on Tuesday, but the company said it didn’t expect a shot-forward sale.
“Regarding our Covid-19 vaccine, we don’t anticipate material sales beyond those recorded in the first quarter as our contractual obligations are complete,” Joseph Wolk, chief financial officer, said in a Tuesday conference call.
Those commitments include external costs for exiting production and spending on clinical trials, the consumer goods giant said in the first quarter wage release.
This marks the end of a difficult three years for J&J’s Covid vaccine, although it was one among the first vaccines to enter the US market during the pandemic. Initially billed as a single-dose regimen, the vaccine has long been overshadowed by the barely simpler injections Pfizer AND Modern attributable to a rare but serious risk of blood clotting disorders.
J&J’s unpopular shot appeared to bear fruit on Tuesday, bringing in $747 million in sales in the three-month period ending March 23. This has driven strong growth in the company’s pharmaceutical business, which saw sales increase by greater than 4% over the same period last yr. .
It’s value noting that every one Covid vaccine revenue this quarter got here from outside the United States. It will not be clear which countries contributed to the sales.
That revenue figure topped Wall Street analysts’ estimates.
Bank of America analyst Geoff Meacham expected the injection to generate $150 million in sales during the quarter. Wells Fargo’s analyst forecast “didn’t assume any Covid sales in the first quarter” but noted that some revenue from contract obligations could “omit”.
After J&J announced earnings, SVB Securities analyst David Risinger also noted that sales of the vaccine beat the consensus estimate by greater than $500 million. JP Morgan analyst Chris Schott added that J&J’s pace in the first quarter was partly “driven by the rise of the Covid vaccine”.
Sales of the Covid vaccine in the first quarter also increased from the $544 million J&J raised in the last quarter and the $457 million the company reported a yr ago.
The last time J&J reported selling a vaccine in the US was in 2007 Q2 2022which ended a couple of weeks after the decision of the Food and Drug Administration strictly limited who can get shot. The agency said the vaccine could only be given to adults who explicitly request it or cannot receive one other injection, indicating a risk of blood clots.
At the starting of this yr, a drug manufacturer also announced reduced shot production in the face of falling demand.
While J&J’s vaccine has fallen out of favor in the US and other wealthy countries, developing countries still depend on it. A single vaccine is cheaper and easier to distribute to hard-to-reach populations.