Daratumumab

J&J is looking to newly approved psoriasis pill, Icotyde to drive growth to the next decade. Credit: PixelBiss / Shutterstock.com. As companies across the life sciences space gear up to debut their Q1 earnings, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has kicked off proceedings by posting healthy growth across its pharma portfolio, despite headwinds from Stelara’s (ustekinumab) loss of market exclusivity. In the first quarter of 2026, J&J achieved sales of $24.1bn – up 9.9% from Q1 in 2025 and higher than analyst expectations of $23.61bn – with the New Jersey-based pharma attaining operational growth of 6.4%. J&J’s adjusted earnings per share (EPS) stood at $2.70, beating Wall Street expectations of $2.68. Burgeoning Q1 sales across J&J’s innovative medicines portfolio primarily drove this uptick, as the division saw an 11.2% increase compared with the same quarter in 2025, bringing in $15.4bn. Growth within this segment was primarily supported by ballooning sales across multiple disease areas. Oncology was a big money maker for J&J in Q1, with multiple myeloma therapies like Darzalex (daratumumab) and Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), among others, bringing in a total of $6.97bn for the company. Neuroscience also saw strong growth driven by treatment-resistant depression (TRD) therapy, Spravato (esketamine), while Tremfya (guselkumab) offered a boost to sales within the company’s immunology portfolio. Despite the overall growth, biosimilar competition for Stelara did cause some headwinds for J&J this quarter – offsetting the pharma’s growth during this period. Icotyde to drive J&J’s future growth Amid the backdrop of a generally positive Q1, J&J has boosted its 2026 outlook, forecasting that the company will see operational sales growth of 5.6% – 6.6% rather than the 5.4% – 6.4% predicted in January 2026. According to J&J’s CEO, Joaquin Duato, the company is on the right track to post double-digit growth by the end of the decade, with the approval and debut of its IL-23 plaque psoriasis pill, Icotyde (icotrokinra), set to plug the sales gap left by Stelara. Currently, GlobalData analysts tout a blockbuster future for the therapy, with 2032 sales expected to reach $4.4bn globally. In a previous conversation with Pharmaceutical Technology , GlobalData analyst Stephanie Ngan noted that Icotyde’s approval in both the adult and adolescent patient population “immediately casts a wider net” for the drug’s early and broad uptake. J&J hopes to achieve this amid the backdrop of its Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing deal with the White House, which will see certain branded medicines in the pharma company’s portfolio endure a US price cut in exchange for exemption from 100% tariffs .

J&J is eying revenues of over $100 billion in 2026. As biosimilar competition to Johnson & Johnson’s Stelara continues to chew off sales, the much-anticipated launch of the company’s new psoriasis pill is quickly taking shape and signaling its potential to become one of the drugmaker’s “largest products ever,” according to CEO Joaquin Duato.Protagonist Therapeutics-partnered Icotyde (icotrokinra) flew out of the gate upon its mid-March approval as the first targeted oral peptide designed to block the interleukin-23 (IL-23) receptor, presenting a new, once-daily alternative to the injectable biologics that make up much of the existing psoriasis market. J&J’s Icotyde launch took off the same day as its FDA approval came in, CEO Duato noted on the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call, with the company noting “strong demand” right away.Together with injectable immunology blockbuster Tremfya, Icotyde forms a key component of J&J’s “dual powerhouse” in immunology. Between the two, Tremfya presents a first-choice biologic for patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and Icotyde is positioned as a systemic treatment, Duato explained. Tremfya, which has been the main contender to pick up the slack for Stelara’s declining sales, is expected to deliver more than $10 billion in peak yearly sales, according to the CEO.  Stelara, meanwhile, is on a vastly different trajectory. The medicine is succumbing to biosimilar competition and served as a serious drag on the company’s innovative medicine division, which delivered $15.4 billion in first-quarter sales.The 7.4% operational sales growth seen across J&J’s innovative medicines category becomes 16.6% when excluding Stelara, Jennifer Taubert, worldwide chairman of innovative medicines at J&J, explained on the call. The double-digit growth seen when excluding Stelara gives the company confidence in its ambitious goal of generating more than $100 billion in annual sales. “It’s already happening today,” Duato said, referring to the performance needed to cross the $100 billion threshold. “It’s based on our product portfolio and pipeline, the strongest in our history.”J&J’s first-quarter innovative medicines growth was largely driven by its oncology and neuroscience sectors, which posted year-over-year operational sales increases of 17.8% and 29.3%, respectively.In oncology, the company’s revenues remain buoyed by its top-selling med Darzalex, the “gold standard” in multiple myeloma, Duato said. The drug has already bagged two new approvals so far this year, most recently with a combo nod alongside J&J’s Tecvayli in previously treated relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma in March. Neuroscience, meanwhile, is highlighted by a November expansion for J&J’s bipolar and schizophrenia med Caplyta as an add-on treatment for major depressive disorder. The drug is seeing “continued momentum” in that space, the company said in its investor presentation (PDF). While J&J’s immunology business saw $3.4 billion in worldwide sales during the period, Tremfya and its “share gains across all indications” couldn’t fully make up for continued biosimilar erosion to Stelara and new biosimilar rivals to older Simponi and Remicade, with the quarter yielding an 11.8% operational decline in immunology sales.Simponi should be up for more erosion this year, too, with biosimilars emerging in Europe over the first half of this year and potentially in the U.S. in the latter half of the year, the company noted.  J&J on M&A  As many of J&J’s peers participate in a recent resurgence of multibillion-dollar M&A deals, the company is content to rest on the major acquisitions it has already wrapped up in recent years. “We have been ahead of the curve in our investment in M&A,” Duato said, pointing to the company’s $14.6 billion purchase of Intra-Cellular Therapies last year and its $13.1 billion deal for Shockwave Medical in 2024.  Instead, the drugmaker is looking to pour its investments into its new product launches and pipeline programs. Although it remains “optimistic” on business development, Duato made it clear that the company does “not depend on M&A” to fulfill its future revenue targets.  For example, Icotyde is one area where J&J is “investing big,” Taubert said, with field teams and patient support services being built out to help patients “get on and be able to stay on” the pill. So far, some 1,500 patients have already had prescriptions written for the med, which can serve the large group of biologic-eligible patients who may be more hesitant to try an injectable therapy, according to Taubert. With the help of a “more pronounced impact” from its newly launched products, J&J lifted its 2026 sales outlook from the $100 billion to $101 billion range it projected in January, adding $300 million on each end.Adding on its medtech sales to its innovative medicines haul, the company collected a total of $24.1 billion over the first quarter, flexing 6.4% overall growth.