NEW YORK – Bristol Myers Squibb this year will be pushing increased adoption of subcutaneous Opdivo (nivolumab), further driving use of the checkpoint inhibitor, which is already a bestseller in intravenous form, company executives said on Thursday during a call to discuss fourth quarter financials.
In December, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the subcutaneous formulation of Opdivo, called Opdivo Qvantig (nivolumab + hyaluronidase), for use in many indications in which intravenous Opdivo is available, including renal cell carcinoma, melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal carcinoma, gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.
"In 2025, we are focused on conversion and educating the US market on the benefits of Opdivo Qvantig, and we expect low-single-digit growth for this product and Opdivo taken together," BMS CFO David Elkins said during the call.
At the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in January, CEO Chris Boerner talked about how the subcutaneous formulation will play a key role in extending the firm's "immuno-oncology business into the next decade." He highlighted that the injection takes a "fraction of the time" it takes to infuse the IV formulation of Opdivo and that it can reduce physician visits. Boerner also noted that BMS is expecting to garner a permanent billing code for this product by mid-2025 and that this will likely be an important inflection point for product sales, affecting uptake among 30 percent to 40 percent of the Opdivo business.
Opdivo Qvantig stands to face competition from a subcutaneous version of Merck's checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab), which the company hopes to launch this year.
Meanwhile, in Q4 2024, intravenous Opdivo generated $2.48 billion in global sales, a 4 percent increase compared to $2.39 billion during the same period in 2023. Sales of the checkpoint inhibitor topped the precision oncology and other newly launched products in BMS's growth portfolio, which contributed $6.36 billion to Q4 2024 revenue, a 21 percent increase from $5.26 billion in the same period last year.
For Yervoy (ipilimumab), the other checkpoint inhibitor in the company's growth portfolio, Q4 2024 revenue was $675 million, a 19 percent increase from $566 million in Q4 2023. Yervoy sales were driven by greater demand in the first-line non-small cell lung cancer indication alongside its core indications, the company said.
In December, the combination of Opdivo and Yervoy was approved in Europe as a first-line treatment for microsatellite instability high or mismatch repair deficient unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer. This month, the firm reported data from a Phase III trial further supporting Opdivo and Yervoy's use in this setting.
Sales of BMS's CD19-targeted autologous CAR T-cell therapy Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel) more than doubled in Q4 2024 to $263 million, from $101 million in Q4 2023. The firm's BCMA-directed autologous CAR T-cell therapy Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) generated $105 million in revenue in Q4 2024, inching up 5 percent from $100 million in the same period in 2023. The firm reported Q4 2024 revenues for its two recently acquired precision oncology drugs, the KRAS G12C-mutant inhibitor Krazati (adagrasib) and the TRK and ROS1 inhibitor Augtyro (repotrectinib). Krazati, which the drugmaker added to its portfolio in January 2024 through its acquisition of Mirati Therapeutics, generated $39 million in the fourth quarter. Augtyro, which BMS gained via its 2022 acquisition of Turning Point Therapeutics, brought in $15 million in revenues in Q4 2024, compared to only $1 million in the year-ago quarter.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2024, BMS's total revenue was $12.34 billion, an 8 percent increase from $11.48 billion in Q4 2023. The firm beat analysts' average revenue expectation of $11.56 billion for the quarter.
BMS recorded net income in Q4 2024 of $76 million, or $.04 per share, compared to net income in Q4 2023 of $1.76 billion, or $.87 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, the company's EPS was $1.67, which beat the consensus Wall Street EPS estimate of $1.47.
Over 2024, BMS's total revenue was $48.30 billion, a 7 percent increase from $45.01 billion in 2023. Opdivo sales in 2024 reached $9.30 billion worldwide, a 3 percent increase from $9.01 billion in the prior year. Sales of Yervoy were $2.53 billion compared to $2.24 billion, a 13 percent jump. Breyanzi generated $747 million, more than doubling its 2023 sales of $364 million. Abecma revenue fell 14 percent in 2024 to $406 million from $472 million in 2023. Krazati recorded $126 million during 2024, and Augtyro generated $38 million last year, compared to $1 million in 2023.
BMS recorded a net loss of $8.93 billion, or $4.41 per share, in 2024 compared to a net profit of $8.04 billion, or $3.86 per share in 2023. On a non-GAAP basis, the company's EPS was $1.15, beating the consensus Wall Street EPS estimate of $.92.
As of Dec. 31, 2024, the company had $11.18 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable debt securities.
BMS will expand its cost-cutting initiative into 2025, with a goal to cut about $1 billion in costs this year. The initiative overall aims to save about $2 billion by the end of 2027. Elkins said savings under the expanded initiative will "be driven by changes in organizational design and efforts to enhance operational efficiency."
Last year, the firm announced a plan to save $1.5 billion in costs which included reducing headcount by 2,200 employees and discontinuing 12 pipeline programs. Elkins noted that by the end of the fourth quarter the firm realized approximately $1.1 billion in savings from the 2024 initiative.
In 2025, BMS is expecting approximately $45.5 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS in the range of $6.55 and $6.85.