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Offsetting Merck’s growth in the third quarter were disappointing revenues from its HPV vaccine Gardasil and type 2 diabetes pill Januvia, with the company on Thursday narrowing its 2024 sales and adjusted profit outlooks.
While Amgen’s third-quarter financial results on Wednesday were “somewhat uneventful,” investors continue to be focused on the highly anticipated MariTide Phase II results slated for late 2024, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman.
Eli Lilly’s blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs missed analysts’ expectations by 18% in the third quarter, which were negatively impacted by inventory stocking in the wholesaler channel. The company’s shares fell more than 13% in trading on Wednesday morning.
The biotech beat Wall Street’s third-quarter revenue forecast by 6%, driven by increased uptake of its achondroplasia drug Voxzogo. However, William Blair downgraded BioMarin’s shares to market perform due to a “lack of near-term catalysts” and uncertainty around Voxzogo’s potential revenue growth.
Novartis exceeded analyst expectations in the third quarter, driven primarily by the strong U.S. sales of Cosentyx, as well as the robust performances of Kesimpta and Kisqali.
The French drugmaker’s newly launched respiratory syncytial virus antibody Beyfortus far exceeded analyst expectations, bringing in almost $700 million in the third quarter. Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger in a Friday note to investors said Sanofi expects Q4 Beyfortus sales similar to Q3.
Johnson & Johnson is cutting several programs—most of which are in neurology and psychiatry—as the company also pulls back from the infectious diseases market.
Sales of Johnson & Johnson’s oncology drugs jumped nearly 19% in the third quarter, driven by cancer treatment Darzalex which brought in more than $3 billion.
In an effort to build its commercial capacity, Moderna on Thursday announced it is lowering research and development spending, while pushing back its target for breaking even by two years to 2028.
Gilead Sciences’ liver disease portfolio delivered surprisingly robust performance in the second quarter, jumping 17% as the company awaits next week’s potential FDA approval of seladelpar in primary biliary cholangitis.
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