Johnson & Johnson announced it raked in $85.2 billion this past year – a $5.2 billion increase over 2022 revenue – during their earnings report today. While they make billions, Americans pay exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs. Johnson & Johnson opposes the Biden administration reforms that lower prescription drug prices.
- During the call, CEO Joaquin Duato bragged about the company’s unexpected revenue boosts and outlook on its pending lawsuits saying, “We have entered 2024 from a position of strength.”
- Johnson & Johnson announced it would spend $2 billion to acquire cancer drugmaker Ambrx Biopharma while seeking to use bankruptcy to get out of injury lawsuits filed by over 52,000 plaintiffs over their talcum baby powders causing cancer.
- Johnson & Johnson is suing the Biden administration to stop Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for patients because it would endanger their massive profits. In 2023 alone, Johnson & Johnson took in $2.4 billion from sales of its heart disease drug Xarelto and $10.9 billion from Stelara sales. Over 64 percent of Johnson & Johnson’s revenue from Stelara came from sales to U.S. patients. All of the company’s revenue from sales of Xarelto came from U.S. patients.
- Johnson and Johnson charges U.S. customers 3 to 7 times more for Xarleto than customers in other high-income countries.
- Johnson and Johnson charges U.S. customers 2 to 7 times more for Stelara than customers in other high-income countries.
- On aggregate, drug companies charge Americans prices up to four times higher than prices in other countries, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses.
- Over 80 percent of voters support giving Medicare the power to negotiate, making it the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act brings down prescription drug costs for everyday Americans, especially seniors, by capping the price of insulin at $35 per month and providing free vaccines including shingles, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and limiting the amount people have to pay each year for prescription drugs to $2,000 annually starting in 2025.
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