Bristol Myers Profit Beats Better-than-Feared Revlimid Sales

By Michael Erman

(Reuters) – Bristol Myers Squibb Co on Thursday reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts’ estimates due to a smaller-than-expected decline in sales of cancer drug Revlimid, which faces competition from cheaper generic rivals.

Revlimid’s fourth-quarter sales of $2.26 billion beat Wall Street estimates of $1.89 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The company expects Revlimid sales to fall to $6.5 billion in 2023, from $9.98 billion last year.

The forecast suggests Revlimid’s “generic erosion will accelerate,” William Blair analysts said in a note.

To help offset declining Revlimid sales, Bristol Myers has bet on newer products such as cancer therapies Opdualag and Abecma.

With the boost from the new product portfolio, the company expects to roughly double sales of its newer offerings in 2023 from last year to about $4 billion, Chief Financial Officer David Elkins said on a call to discuss the company’s results.

The New York-based drugmaker reported a nearly 5 percent drop in fourth-quarter sales to $11.41 billion, but that was above analysts’ expectations of $11.2 billion.

Excluding the currency effect, sales rose 3 percent in 2022, the chief financial officer said.

“This is the first year of generic (competition for Revlimid) and everyone wanted to see if we could grow over the course of the year. We did that,” Elkins said.

Bristol Myers shares rose about 1 percent to $72.06.

The company reported sales of $2.69 billion for blood thinner Eliquis, which it shares with Pfizer Inc, in the quarter and $2.22 billion for cancer immunotherapy Opdivo, up 1 percent and 11 percent, respectively a year earlier.

Bristol Myers reported earnings of $1.82 per share in the quarter, down from $1.84 a year ago. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.72 per share.

The company estimates 2023 earnings of $7.95 to $8.25 per share on revenue it sees rising about 2% from 2022 sales of $46.16 billion.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey and Raghav Mahobe in Bengaluru; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Bill Berkrot)