Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it expects to generate as much as US$3.5 billion from the sale of its COVID-19 vaccine this year compared to US$2.39 billion in 2021, in a sign of easing manufacturing problems and increasing demand.
Delivery delays and an uneven demand during last year resulted in the drugmaker narrowly missing its goal of garnering US$2.5 billion in vaccine sales in 2021.
J&J shares fell nearly 2% before the opening bell as overall fourth-quarter sales also missed market expectations due to a bleak performance by a few of the big revenue drivers such as cancer drug Imbruvica and Crohn’s disease treatment Stelara.
Contributions from the coronavirus vaccine are expected to be a small part of J&J’s overall sales as the company sells it at a not-for-profit price.
Rivals Pfizer and Moderna, however, have benefited from sales of their vaccines, predicting multibillion-dollars in revenue in 2021 and 2022. Moderna expects US$18.5 billion in 2022 from vaccine sales and Pfizer US$29 billion.
Overall, J&J expects annual sales of US$98.9 billion to US$100.4 billion, above expectations of US$97.79 billion.
This is due to a big leap in sales expectation for COVID-19 vaccine, J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Schott said. The brokerage had expected sales of US$1.5 billion in 2022.
J&J’s forecast comes at a time when it is looking to separate its consumer health unit and focus on medical devices and pharmaceuticals businesses.
The devices unit has been under pressure as non-urgent procedures such as hip and knee replacement surgeries get delayed once again due to the Omicron variant.
Sales of J&J’s and AbbVie’s cancer drug Imbruvica came in at US$1.06 billion, below estimates of US$1.17 billion.
Stelara sales of US$2.33 billion also missed estimates of US$2.45 billion.
Overall sales of US$24.80 billion missed expectations of US$25.29 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
