Yahoo Finance Bristol Myers (BMY) Loses 10.5% Year-to-Date: What Lies Ahead?
Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY have lost 10.5% in the year so far compared with the industry’s decline of 9.5%.
Last month, the company reported mixed results for the first quarter of 2023. The company beat on first-quarter earnings but missed on sales, which declined year over year due to continued generic competition faced by Revlimid.
While sales of the immuno-oncology drug Opdivo, approved for multiple cancer indications, maintain momentum, one of the top drugs, Eliquis, is now facing generic erosion in Canada and the UK; hence, sales of the drug declined in international markets in the first quarter.
While the decline in sales of Revlimid and international sales of Eliquis remain a concern, the pipeline progress has been encouraging.
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Earlier in the year, psoriasis drug Sotyktu (deucravacitinib) was approved by the European Commission (EC). Sotyktu is a first-in-class, selective tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor for treating adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy, representing a new way of treating this chronic immune-mediated disease. It is already approved in the United States.
The psoriasis market holds a lot of potential and a strong uptake of Sotyktu will bode well for Bristol-Myers.
The FDA recently accepted the new drug application (NDA) for repotrectinib, which seeks approval for this next-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for treating patients with ROS1-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The regulatory body has granted Priority Review to the application and has assigned a target action date of Nov 27, 2023.
The candidate was added to BMY’s pipeline with the acquisition of clinical-stage precision oncology company Turning Point Therapeutics in August 2022.
The FDA also granted Fast Track Designation to pipeline candidate milvexian. The candidate is being studied for the prevention and treatment of major thrombotic conditions as part of the Librexia program in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Last month, the EC granted approval to Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel; liso-cel), a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, for the treatment of adult patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), high-grade B-cell lymphoma (HGBCL), primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) and follicular lymphoma grade 3B (FL3B) who relapsed within 12 months from completion of or are refractory to first-line chemoimmunotherapy. This approval covers all European Union (EU) member states.
Earlier, the EC also granted full Marketing Authorization to Reblozyl (luspatercept), a first-in-class therapeutic option, to treat adult patients with anemia associated with non-transfusion-dependent (NTD) beta-thalassemia. The drug is approved in the EU, the United States and Canada to address anemia associated with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia and transfusion-dependent lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes.
Bristol Myers Squibb develops and commercializes Reblozyl through a global collaboration with medical powerhouse Merck MRK. Merck acquired Acceleron Pharma in November 2021, following which it collaborated with BMY to develop and commercialize Reblozyl.
While the label expansion of these drugs and potential approval of new drugs will add an incremental revenue stream to boost growth in the coming quarters, it is still a long way before the dent caused by the rapid erosion of Revlimid sales is filled up.
Separately, Giovanni Caforio, MD, chairman of the board and chief executive officer (CEO), will retire from the post, effective Nov 1, 2023.
Bristol-Myers currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Some top-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector are Ligand Pharmaceuticals LGND and Novartis NVS. LGND currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 and Novartis carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Over the past 30 days, earnings estimates for LGND have increased by $1.09 to $5.25. LGND topped earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters and missed in the remaining two, the average surprise being 21.50%.
Over the past 30 days, NVS’ earnings estimates have increased to $6.67 from $6.56 for 2023. Novartis surpassed estimates in all the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 5.15%.
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