NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey - Johnson & Johnson, fighting to break out of an earnings slump, told investors on Thursday that it aims to seek approvals for almost a dozen new medicines by 2013 -- including a promising new treatment for hepatitis C it will submit to regulators by next year.
Between 2011 and 2013, the diversified health products maker plans to seek U.S. approvals for treatments for diabetes, tuberculosis, attention deficit disorder, pain and obesity.
During a meeting for analysts to review its pharmaceutical operations, executives said J&J (JNJ.N) had an industry-leading experimental drugs pipeline, and they outlined plans to address five therapeutic areas.
"We are very optimistic about our future," Sheri McCoy, worldwide chairman of pharmaceuticals, said at the meeting in J&J's hometown of New Brunswick, New Jersey.
With its overall prescription drug sales falling because of patent lapses, J&J has projected flat earnings this year -- in contrast to the double-digit earnings growth it has consistently achieved in past years.
J&J is relying on its array of consumer products and medical devices to keep at least on an even keel.
But Wall Street is optimistic that J&J's prescription drugs will again be an engine of revenue and earnings growth starting next year.
EARNINGS OPTIMISM
Morgan Stanley analysts expect earnings to rise by 12 percent in 2010, 10 percent in 2011 and 12 percent in 2012, with new medicines and other products adding about $6 billion to sales by 2012.
"Nothing we've heard today will affect J&J's 2009 or 2010 outlook, but it's good to see that things are getting into Phase III trials or progressing through the FDA," said Robert Dunne, a hedge fund manager with Viscogliosi Brothers.
Dunne said a number of promising J&J drugs have "flamed out" in past years, failing in late-stage studies. But he said the company's current drug pipeline seems more reliable.
"The number of products provides a cushion, and the company seems more careful and thoughtful about what they are doing," Dunne said.
By next year, J&J plans to seek European approval for hepatitis C drug telaprevir, a high-profile drug that it licensed from Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX.O).
In clinical trials, the drug combined with currently used medicines has shown great promise in eliminating the disease in both patients who have not previously been treated and in more difficult patients for whom prior treatment has failed.
J&J also plans to seek U.S. approval by next year for HIV drug TMC 278 and plans to advance its Type 2 diabetes drug, canagliflozin, into late-stage clinical trials later this year.
Analysts are optimistic about recently approved arthritis drug Simponi and expect U.S. approvals in coming months of psoriasis drug Stelara and blood clot preventer Xarelto, being developed with German drugmaker Bayer AG (BAYG.DE).
The company said it expects this month to launch a new treatment for moderate to severe pain called Nucynta that has been approved by U.S. regulators.
J&J, whose first-quarter earnings fell slightly due to generic competition for its Risperdal schizophrenia drug and waning demand for its anemia medicines, is now under even greater pressure due to the expiration in March of the U.S. patent on its $2.5 billion-a-year Topamax epilepsy drug.
Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold said earlier this week that investor reaction to J&J's pharmaceutical review could move its shares close to $60 -- or bring them back down below $55.
J&J shares fell 46 cents to $55.70 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They are down about 6.5 percent this year, a slightly worse decline than that of the American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical index .DRG.
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