Darzalex, Erleada & New Drugs Keep J&J's Oncology Engine Charged in Q1

Johnson & Johnson JNJ is one of the key pharmaceutical players in the oncology segment with significant expertise in blood cancers and solid tumors. It is the #1 company in multiple myeloma, with key drug Darzalex being considered the gold standard in multiple myeloma and J&J’s #1 product.Its Oncology segment comprises around 29% of total revenues and 45% of its Innovative Medicine segment sales. Its oncology sales rose 17.8% on an operational basis in the first quarter of 2026, driven by strong market growth and share gains of key products such as Darzalex and prostate cancer drug, Erleada. The sales growth was partially dampened by lower sales of Imbruvica.In the first quarter, Darzalex rose 22.5% year over year to $3.96 billion, while Erleada generated sales of $949.0 million, up 23.1%. Imbruvica sales declined 6.9% to $660.0 million due to continued rising competitive pressure in the United States.J&J’s new cancer drugs, Carvykti, Tecvayli, Talvey and Rybrevant/Lazcluze are contributing significantly to top-line growth driven by market share gains. Combined, they generated $1.2 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2026.J&J expects the momentum to continue and targets its oncology sales to reach $50 billion by 2030. Though quite bullish, J&J seems quite confident that it can meet the target, citing strong growth in its marketed cancer drugs and new launches like Rybrevant and Inlexzo. J&J’s newly launched therapy, Inlexzo, the first-of-its-kind drug-releasing system for treating certain types of bladder cancer, generated sales of slightly above $30 million in the quarter. On the call, the company said that it received a permanent J-code for Inlexzo reimbursement in April that should boost patient access and sales for the therapy.J&J believes its new cancer drugs, Talvey, Tecvayli, Inlexzo and Rybrevant plus Lazcluze, have the potential to deliver peak sales of $5 billion.Meanwhile, J&J’s oncology pipeline has gained strong momentum in the last couple of years with promising developments in colorectal and head and neck cancers. In the first quarter, J&J gained FDA approval of Tecvayli plus Darzalex Faspro for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. This combination regimen has the potential to become a new standard of care in earlier lines of myeloma treatment.J&J is also building its oncology pipeline through M&A deals. Last year, it acquired Halda Therapeutics, which added a promising clinical-stage treatment for prostate cancer with potential across multiple tumor types.Competition in the Oncology SpaceOther large players in the oncology space are Pfizer PFE, AstraZeneca AZN, Merck MRK, among others.Oncology sales comprise around 26% of Pfizer’s total revenues. Its oncology revenues grew 7% in the first quarter of 2026, driven by higher sales of drugs like Lorbrena, the Braftovi-Mektovi combination and Padcev, which made up for declining sales of Ibrance, Xtandi and others. Pfizer also has a robust pipeline of cancer candidates with a focus on multiple modalities, including small molecules, ADCs and immuno-oncology biologics. For AstraZeneca, oncology sales now comprise around 45% of total revenues. Sales in its oncology segment rose 16% at constant exchange rate (CER) in the first quarter of 2026. AstraZeneca’s strong oncology performance was driven by medicines such as Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi, Calquence and Enhertu (in partnership with Daiichi Sankyo).Merck’s key oncology medicines are PD-L1 inhibitor, Keytruda and PARP inhibitor, Lynparza, which it markets in partnership with AstraZeneca. Keytruda, approved for several types of cancer, alone accounts for around 50% of Merck’s pharmaceutical sales. Keytruda recorded sales of $8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 8% year over year.JNJ’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesJ&J’s shares have outperformed the industry over the past year. The stock has risen 44.3% in the past year compared with 20.9% appreciation of the industry. Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchFrom a valuation standpoint, J&J is slightly expensive. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 18.84 forward earnings, higher than 16.84 for the industry. The stock is also trading above its five-year mean of 15.65.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings has risen from $11.54 to $11.57 over the past 30 days, while that for 2027 earnings has gone up from $12.45 per share to $12.58 over the same time frame.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchJ&J has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.See Stocks Now >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks