Incyte expects minimal tariff hit, lifts blood cancer drug’s 2025 forecast

Audio By Carbonatix

By Kamal Choudhury

(Reuters) -Incyte Corp raised the annual sales forecast for its blood cancer drug Jakafi on Tuesday, and said it expects minimal impact from U.S. tariffs due to its flexibility in sourcing supplies.

CEO Hervé Hoppenot credited the drugmaker’s tariff resilience to its “dual sourcing” strategy, which allows it to make key products in the U.S. or Europe, in a conference call with analysts.

Incyte also said its exposure to China is limited to some starting material for some of its drugs and that it has enough inventory for a multi-year period as well as alternate supply sources.

Earlier in the day, Incyte said it now expects annual sales of Jakafi between $2.95 billion and $3 billion, up from prior range of $2.93 billion to $2.98 billion, after robust sales of the drug in the first quarter.

Apart from higher demand, Incyte attributed the quarterly sales to policy benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and less destocking by retailers and distributors.

TD Cowen analyst Marc Frahm on Tuesday identified Jakafi as one of the “biggest beneficiaries” of the IRA.

Sales of Jakafi rose 24% from a year ago to $709 million for the quarter, compared with analysts’ estimate of $638.4 million, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

Jakafi is mainly used to treat blood cancers called myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera.

Although sales from skin disorder drug Opzelura rose 38% from a year ago to $119 million for the quarter, they fell short of analysts’ estimate of $131.6 million.

On an adjusted basis, Incyte earned $1.16 per share in the quarter ended March 31, outperforming analysts’ estimate of $1.02 per share.

The Trump administration said earlier this month that it is stepping up probes into pharmaceutical and chip imports, setting the stage for tariffs.

Incyte’s shares rose 1.5% in morning trading.

(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)