Bristol Myers says schizophrenia drug launch ‘off to a solid start’

A new, closely watched schizophrenia medication from Bristol Myers Squibb sold well in its first full quarter on the market, according to both the company and analysts.

In its latest earnings report, Bristol Myers recorded $27 million in net sales from Cobenfy during the three-month period between January and March. Chief Financial Officer David Elkins called that a “solid start” and said the weekly number of Cobenfy prescriptions “remains strong, tracking ahead of all branded specific benchmarks.” As of April 11, that number was 1,655.

Matt Phipps, an analyst at the investment firm William Blair, echoed those sentiments in a note to clients, describing the results as a “nice start.” David Risinger, of Leerink Partners, noted that the sales total was 48% above the average analyst estimate. 

The drug’s success is imperative for Bristol Myers, which has watched generic competition erode one of its most lucrative products, the blood cancer treatment Revlimid. Two of its other top-selling medicines, the blood thinner Eliquis and the cancer immunotherapy Opdivo, are also poised to lose patent protection in a few years. Across its whole business, Bristol Myers recorded $11.6 billion in revenue in the first quarter, a 6% decline from the same period last year.

Bristol Myers sees Cobenfy as a major product, hence why the company recently shelled out $14 billion to acquire its developer, Karuna Therapeutics. Analysts also have blockbuster expectations, though those were tempered a bit this week when the drug stumbled in testing.

Having already secured an approval in schizophrenia, Bristol Myers has been trying to show Cobenfy has a range of other uses. Those include treating bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease, or even being layered onto other antipsychotics for schizophrenia patients.

In that last category, however, a nearly 400-person clinical trial just found Cobenfy was not significantly better than a placebo. To some analysts, the setback erases billions of dollars in potential revenue.

Perhaps expectedly, Bristol Myers leadership talked down the study failure on a call with investors Thursday. Chief Commercialization Officer Adam Lenkowsky said schizophrenia monotherapy remains the “most significant”  opportunity, accounting for 70% to 80% of the patients treated with Cobenfy.

“What happens in the real world? Psychiatrists exhaust monotherapy options before trying adjunctive use,” Lenkowsky said. “That’s exactly what we’ve been seeing in the market.”

“Physicians have also told us, both in research and through advisory boards, that missing the endpoint of the study would have no impact on monotherapy usage or their willingness to use Cobenfy,” he added.

More broadly, Bristol Myers upped its revenue forecast for the year by 2%, to a range of about $45.8 billion to $46.8 billion. The raise was based on operational sales as well as the impact of foreign exchange rates.

During the investor call, analysts also pressed the company about its plans to navigate the current political environment, especially Trump administration tariff policies. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry has so far avoided the worst of the tariff impact, but there are strong signs it could get caught in the crosshairs before too long.

“We have been up investing in core infrastructure in the U.S. for many years. So we need to ensure that, ultimately, our trade policies enhance the sector and support efforts like the ones we’ve been making,” CEO Chris Boerner told investors.

“In terms of our exposure, again, what we’ve said is the tariffs that have gone into place, namely around China, have been reflected in the guidance that we provided today,” Boerner added. “It really is simply too early to provide a lot more on pharma-specific sectors, so we’ll have to wait for the specifics there.”

Bristol Myers shares were about flat as of late Thursday morning, trading a little above $48 apiece.

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