Johnson & Johnson reports mixed Q3 earnings

Johnson & Johnson reported mixed Q3 earnings on Oct. 13.

Overall revenues for the quarter were $25.4 billion, an almost 6% increase compared to $24 billion in Q3 2025. However, net earnings fell to $210 million from $5.2 billion in Q3 last year, a decrease of 96%. The steep decline was mainly due to a $5.5 billion payment Johnson & Johnson offered in late July to settle litigation regarding claims the company’s talc powder caused ovarian cancer in tens of thousands of patients.

The company also completed a $1 billion acquisition of biotech Firefly Bio in Q3 and signed a $785 million partnership deal with biotech Sail Biomedicines to develop in vivo CAR-T therapies for autoimmune diseases.

J&J is one of the largest and most diversified healthcare companies in the world, with roughly 140,000 employees globally, $94 billion in annual revenue, and business segments spanning pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

The company’s shares closed at $248.61 on Oct. 13, about 6% lower than $263.73 the day prior. However, that’s still up over 20% from $204.07 at the start of the year.

The good. Much of J&J’s Q3 sales growth was due to autoimmune drug Tremfya, which saw global sales growth of 68% to $2.4 billion in the quarter, up from $1.4 billion during Q3 2025.

Worldwide oncology sales also increased nearly 17% to $7.6 billion, with Darzalex, a multiple myeloma treatment, leading the way and bringing in $4.2 billion.

J&J Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato said in the earnings call that the company’s goal is to “become the number one oncology company by 2030” and exceed $50 billion in sales for the segment. Total segment sales so far in 2026 are approaching $22 billion. Merck, well known for its oncology portfolio including the blockbuster Keytruda, brought in $31.7 billion from its oncology drugs in 2025.

Overall pharmaceutical sales for J&J increased 7.9% to $16.8 billion.

Duato also said the company now has 29 products and platforms that generate $1 billion annually.

J&J raised its full-year sales forecast slightly to $101.2 billion at the midpoint from $101.1 billion. The company is on track to exceed $100 billion in revenue this year for the first time in the company’s history, according to Duato.

The not-so-good. The company’s medtech unit didn’t perform as well as expected, with operation sales growth at just 2.5%, reaching $8.6 billion. In Q3 2025, operational sales had grown 5.6% to $8.4 billion.

During the earnings call, Tim Schmid, EVP and worldwide chairman of medtech, said the segment’s international performance was affected by “conflict in the Middle East” and “the expansion of volume-based procurement in China.”

Duato said during the call that the segment “fell short” of expectations. EVP and CFO Joseph Wolk added that within the medtech segment, the company specifically needs to improve its performance in cardiovascular and surgery outside the US.

In the pharmaceutical segment, Stelara, an autoimmune drug that began facing generic competition at the start of 2025, saw sales fall 54% to $716 million from $1.6 billion.

The rest. Wolk said J&J will complete plans to spin off its orthopedics unit by mid-2027. The company first announced plans to spin off the unit, called DePuy Synthes, in October 2025.

Bloomberg reported on Sept. 11 that Apollo Global Management, an alternative asset manager, is looking to buy DePuy Synthes for $20 billion. The move follows a 2023 spinoff of J&J’s consumer health division, which is now Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol. Kimberly-Clark, a consumer products company known for Kleenex and Huggies, plans to acquire Kenvue for $40 billion.

J&J and Apollo Global Management both declined Healthcare Brew’s request for additional comment. We also reached out to Sail Biomedicines, Kenvue, and Kimberly-Clark but did not hear back by publication.