Big Pharma H1 2021 Earnings Roundup: Pfizer Rebounds with Vaccine Surge, Roche Posts Decline Amid Biosimilar Pressure

　　【Pharmaceutical Network | Industry News】Since July, as major pharmaceutical companies in China have been successively disclosing their financial results for the first half of 2021, major multinational pharmaceutical firms have also been releasing their interim reports, including Pfizer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, BMS, Merck & Co., Sanofi, and AstraZeneca, among others. Based on the disclosed results, the H1 performance of these multinational companies has been mixed. For instance, Pfizer achieved a financial turnaround driven by its vaccines, while Novartis and Johnson & Johnson also delivered strong results, buoyed by the rapid growth of their blockbuster products. Conversely, Roche experienced negative growth in the first half of the year due to the sustained impact of biosimilars.
 

Among them, Pfizer reported total revenue of $33.5 billion in the first half of 2021, representing a 68% year-on-year increase. The substantial growth was primarily driven by the vaccine product BNT162b2, which contributed $11.3 billion in sales to Pfizer during the first half. Additionally, products such as apixaban, palbociclib, and enzalutamide continued to drive Pfizer's performance growth. However, amid competitive pressures, palbociclib's sales growth continued to decelerate, with a decline in the US market. Furthermore, sales of the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib, which exceeded $2 billion in 2020, faced headwinds, declining 9% year-over-year in the second quarter, with a 15% drop in the US market.
 

Novartis reported first-half revenue of $25.367 billion, up 7% year-on-year. This growth was primarily driven by strong sales momentum from products such as secukinumab and sacubitril/valsartan. Among them, secukinumab generated $2.228 billion in H1 revenue, a 19% year-on-year increase, while sacubitril/valsartan also delivered a standout performance, recording $1.675 billion in revenue, up 46% year-on-year. Additionally, it is worth noting that Zolgensma, Novartis’s gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), achieved sales of $634 million in the first half, surging by 69%. The therapy is projected to cross the $1 billion mark this year, poised to drive high growth in Novartis’s overall performance.
 

Johnson & Johnson reported total revenue of $45.633 billion in the first half of the year, representing a 16.9% year-on-year increase. During the same period, sales of several Johnson & Johnson products, including ustekinumab, daratumumab, ibrutinib, Tremfya, and apalutamide, achieved rapid growth, with increases of 25.8%, 52.2%, 13.2%, 16.2%, and 80%, respectively. Notably, daratumumab demonstrated robust performance in the global market, with its growth rate surpassing 50%. Furthermore, as another blockbuster product from Johnson & Johnson in the prostate cancer therapeutic area following abiraterone, apalutamide has sustained rapid growth since its market launch in 2018.
 

BMS reported total revenue of $22.776 billion for the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The company's performance growth was primarily driven by seven blockbuster products: lenalidomide, apixaban, nivolumab, abatacept, pomalidomide, dasatinib, and ipilimumab, with combined sales exceeding $20 billion. Notably, BMS's blockbuster drug "Opdivo" (nivolumab), which experienced a sales decline in 2020 due to the pandemic, rebounded to positive growth in the first half of this year, up 6% year-on-year, with sales surpassing $3.6 billion. However, BMS recently announced the voluntary withdrawal of another indication for Opdivo: monotherapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who progressed after prior sorafenib treatment.
 

Merck generated total revenue of $22.029 billion in the first half of the year, a 12% year-over-year increase. The performance growth was primarily driven by sales of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and HPV vaccines. In the first half of the year, Keytruda achieved sales revenue of $8.078 billion, up 21% year-over-year. Cumulative revenue for Gardasil 9/Gardasil reached $2.151 billion, representing a 23% year-over-year increase. However, Merck recently announced the voluntary withdrawal of Keytruda’s accelerated approval in the United States for the treatment of PD-L1-positive locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma that has progressed on or after second-line and subsequent therapy. In March of this year, Merck also withdrew Keytruda’s indication for the treatment of small cell lung cancer in the U.S.
 

Sanofi reported total revenue of €17.3 billion for the first half of 2021. Its blockbuster drug dupilumab, indicated for the treatment of atopic dermatitis and asthma, continued to maintain robust growth in the second quarter, rising 57% to €1.243 billion. First-half sales reached €2.29 billion, contributing significantly to Sanofi's overall revenue. Additionally, Sanofi's vaccine business generated €1 billion in revenue in the second quarter of this year, up 16%.
 

AstraZeneca's total revenue in the first half of this year reached $15.54 billion, up 23% year-on-year. Among this, revenue from the China region amounted to $3.209 billion, a 21% increase, accounting for 21% of AstraZeneca's total revenue. Its three major oncology drugs—Tagrisso, Imfinzi, and Lynparza—all maintained rapid double-digit growth in the first half of the year, with year-on-year increases of 22%, 22%, and 39%, respectively. In addition, the new antidiabetic drug dapagliflozin generated $1.359 billion in revenue during the first half, surging 60% year-on-year. However, affected by China's centralized volume-based procurement program, revenue from ticagrelor declined by 38%.
 

Additionally, Roche reported first-half revenue of CHF 30.7 billion, an 8% increase year-on-year. Of this total, the Pharmaceutical Division generated revenue of CHF 21.6 billion (USD 23.56 billion), a decline of 3%. The downturn in the pharmaceutical segment was primarily attributed to the impact of biosimilars and the pandemic. During the first half of the year, sales of Roche’s oncology “blockbuster trio”—bevacizumab, trastuzumab, and rituximab—fell by 40%, 35%, and 41%, respectively. However, newly approved products also drove fresh growth for the company. For instance, the multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus achieved first-half sales of CHF 2.438 billion (USD 2.657 billion), up 23%; the hemophilia drug emicizumab posted a 45% year-on-year increase, reaching CHF 1.393 billion (USD 1.518 billion); and atezolizumab sales rose by 29% in the first half of the year.