Johnson & Johnson Hike 2021 Profit Forecast as COVID-19 Vaccine Sales Grow

Sales of the cancer treatment Darzalex helped Johnson & Johnson deliver better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, while COVID-19 fueled vaccine revenue and had more customers reaching for Tylenol. The world’s biggest maker of health care products hiked its 2021 earnings forecast after saying Tuesday that net income climbed 3% to $3.67 billion in the recently completed quarter. Sales of the company’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine started to pick up in the quarter and nearly doubled what it brought in during the first half of 2021. J&J also said that sales of over-the-counter drugs, which do not need prescriptions, grew 18% globally as more customers bought Tylenol and Motrin partly because they wanted vaccine symptom relief. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Injections of COVID-19 vaccines, which have been widely available since spring, can come with side effects like arm soreness or a temporary fever. J&J rang up $502 million in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine in the third quarter after pulling in $264 million during the first half of 2021. The New Brunswick, New Jersey, company’s vaccine started slow earlier this year. Its rollout was hurt by manufacturing complications and concern about rare side effects, including a blood clot disorder. But company leaders expect sales to pick up and total around $2.5 billion for the year. The company has said it doesn’t intend to profit from the shots. Last Friday, Food and Drug Administrat...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized biztech2030 Vaccines wire Source Type: news