By Michael Erman and Puyaan Singh
April 30 (Reuters) – Bristol Myers Squibb reported a first-quarter profit that beat Wall Street expectations on Thursday, helped by better-than-expected growth of blood thinner Eliquis and newer cancer medicines, sending shares up 4%.
The drugmaker posted adjusted earnings of $1.58 per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ average expectation of $1.42, according to LSEG data. Its revenue of $11.49 billion beat expectations of about $10.9 billion.
Eliquis, marketed in partnership with Pfizer, generated $4.14 billion in quarterly sales, up 16% from a year earlier. Chief Commercialization Officer Adam Lenkowsky said demand for the blood thinner remains strong, with new prescription share surpassing 75%.
Lenkowsky said in an interview that the drug’s strong performance should support growth later in the year.
Growth from newer cancer medicines, such as cell therapy Breyanzi and Camzyos, helped offset steep declines in older products facing generic competition, such as one-time top seller Revlimid, a blood cancer treatment.
Sales from Bristol Myers’ growth portfolio rose 12% to $6.23 billion, accounting for more than half of total revenue.
However, RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh said the beat was outweighed by mixed performance of some growth drivers, such as cancer drug Opdivo and anemia treatment Reblozyl.
Huynh added, “we think 2026 quarters matter less than 2H26 catalysts,” with the potential approval of a next-generation cancer drug, late-stage study results from milvexian for irregular heartbeats and Cobenfy in Alzheimer’s agitation.
Bristol Myers sold $2.15 billion of its original formulation of Opdivo, down 5% and below estimates of $2.33 billion. Finance chief David Elkins attributed the decline to wholesalers reducing their inventory.
“We continue to monitor whether (inventory) levels will normalize over the balance of the year,” Elkins added.
The company recorded another $163 million for the subcutaneously injected version called Opdivo Qvantig, launched last year.
Bristol Myers reaffirmed its 2026 outlook for revenue of $46.0 billion to $47.5 billion and adjusted earnings of $6.05 to $6.35 per share, with results expected to trend toward the higher end of the range.
CEO Chris Boerner said Bristol Myers is expanding use of artificial intelligence across research and development to speed up identification of potential drug molecules by about 50% and cut clinical development cycle times by 30% over time.
Elkins told Reuters ongoing cost-cutting efforts are supporting investment in newer medicines and dividend growth.
The company’s cost-cutting program had already delivered $1 billion out of a planned $2 billion in total savings by the end of 2025. Elkins said Bristol is on target to hit the full $2 billion by the end of next year.
(Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
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