J&J hikes 2021 profit forecast, COVID-19 vaccine sales grow

Sales of the cancer treatment Darzalex helped Johnson & Johnson deliver better-than-expected third quarter earnings, while COVID-19 fueled vaccine revenue and had more customers reaching for Tylenol

Sales of the cancer treatment Darzalex helped Johnson & Johnson deliver better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, while COVID-19 fueled vaccine revenue and had more customers reaching for Tylenol.

The world’s biggest maker of health care products hiked its 2021 earnings forecast after saying Tuesday that net income climbed 3% to $3.67 billion in the recently completed quarter.

Sales of the company's single-shot COVID-19 vaccine started to pick up in the quarter and nearly doubled what it brought in during the first half of 2021.

J&J also said that sales of over-the-counter drugs, which do not need prescriptions, grew 18% globally as more customers bought Tylenol and Motrin partly because they wanted vaccine symptom relief.