(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson (J&J) raised its annual profit and revenue forecasts on Tuesday, after beating expectations in the third quarter, driven by strong sales of its oncology drugs, although its unit of Medical technology has faced headwinds in Asia.

The American pharmaceutical group raised its annual profit forecast to 10.15 dollars (9.30 euros) per share, excluding a charge of 24 cents per share linked to the acquisition of medical device maker V-Wave.

J&J now expects annual sales to be between $89.4 billion and $89.8 billion, compared to a previous range of $89.2 billion to $89.6 billion.

However, the group has revised its earnings per share forecast downwards and now expects a result between 9.86 and 9.96 dollars.

J&J also recorded adjusted earnings per share of $2.42 in the third quarter, down 9% year-on-year, but above analysts’ expectations of $2.21 per share in an LSEG consensus. .

J&J’s quarterly sales of oncology drugs increased nearly 19% globally, driven by the performance of Darzalex, whose sales jumped 20.7% year-over-year to $3 billion.

Analysts expect Darzalex to bring in about $11 billion for J&J this year, and forecast third-quarter sales of $2.92 billion.

Sales at J&J’s medical technology unit, however, missed expectations, at $7.9 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion.

Although the group had expected “something better” from the unit, Joe Wolk, chief financial officer, noted that it had faced headwinds in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in China. and in Japan.

J&J said in July that the Chinese market could penalize the company “in the short term.”

After rising 1.3%, J&J stock turned lower and slipped 1% in pre-market trading on Wall Street.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Christy Santhosh in Bangalore and Patrick Wingrove in New York; Elena Smirnova, editing by Augustin Turpin)

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