J&J opened Q1 2025 pharma earnings Tuesday, reporting sales of $21.9 billion and diluted earnings per share of $4.54. The medicines unit provided $13.9 billion while the medtech unit generated the remaining $8 billion.
Johnson & Johnson’s medicines, including Tremfya and Carvykti, helped drive a worldwide sales increase of 2.4% in the first quarter, the company reported Tuesday morning.
As always, J&J was the first out the gate for pharma earnings, reporting sales of $21.9 billion and diluted earnings per share of $4.54. The medicines unit provided $13.9 billion while the medtech unit kicked in the remaining $8 billion.
Guggenheim called the first quarter results “solid” in a Tuesday morning note, as the company beat the firm’s sales estimate of $21.63 billion.
J&J also maintained its guidance for 2025, despite facing major challenges from tariff threats that have sent the broader market on a rollercoaster ride. The company expects adjusted operation sales of 2-3%. Guggenheim noted that J&J is now factoring the tariffs into its guidance for 2025, although details were not provided.
Leerink Partners called the guidance maintenence “a welcome relief,” as J&J’s medtech unit is particularly vulnerable to potential tariffs.
CEO Joaquin Duato name-dropped Tremfya and Rybrevant as the key medicines behind J&J’s success this quarter in a Tuesday morning statement. Tremfya, which is approved for Crohn’s disease, had worldwide sales of $956 million, an 18% increase over $808 million for the same quarter in 2024.
J&J’s fading immunology star Stelara, meanwhile, suffered a setback in the quarter as biosimilars crept into the market. Another headwind was changes to the Medicare’s Part D policies. The drug pulled in sales of $1.63 billion for the first quarter, compared to $2.45 billion for the same period in 2023, representing a 34% decline.
Duato also highlighted clinical milestones for Rybrevant and its small cell lung cancer combo med Lazcluze. The combo outperformed AstraZeneca’s lung cancer stalwart Tagrisso in a Phase III head-to-head trial that read out in March. J&J’s combo led to a significant increase in overall survival as compared to Tagrisso. The combo brought in $141 million, compared to $47 million for the period a year ago.
J&J will address investors in a first quarter earnings call at 8:30 a.m. ET. Guggenheim expects investors will have more questions about macro headwinds like tariffs than J&J’s usual operations.
“We do not believe the 1Q 2025 results fundamentally change the overall JNJ story, with investors likely focusing more on current macro factors (e.g., tariffs, taxes, healthcare utilization, etc...), and their impact on JNJ and its peers, and potentially less focus than usual on JNJ’s current growth drivers and pipeline assets,” the firm wrote.
