Jessica Moore
Vice President - Investor Relations at Johnson & Johnson
Good morning. This is Jessica Moore, Vice President of Investor Relations for Johnson & Johnson. Welcome to our Company's review of the 2023 third quarter business results and full-year financial outlook.
A few logistics before we get into the details. As a reminder, you can find additional materials, including today's presentation and associated schedules on the Investor Relations section of the Johnson & Johnson website at investor.jnj.com.
Please note that this presentation contains forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, the Company's future operating and financial performance, market position and business strategy. You are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations of future events using the information available as of the date of this recording and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected. A description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in our SEC filings, including our 2022 Form 10-K, which is available at investor.jnj.com and on the SEC's website.
Additionally, several of the products and compounds discussed today are being developed in collaboration with strategic partners or licensed from other companies. This slide acknowledges those relationships.
Moving to today's agenda. I will start by reviewing the third quarter sales and P&L results for the corporation and highlights related to our two businesses. Joe Wolk, our CFO, will then provide additional business and financial commentary before sharing an overview of our cash position, capital allocation priorities and updated guidance for 2023. The remaining time will be available for your questions. Joaquin Duato, our Chairman and CEO; John Reed and Ahmet Tezel, our Innovative Medicine and MedTech R&D leaders; as well as Erik Haas, our VP of Litigation, will be joining us for Q&A. To ensure we provide enough time to address your questions, we anticipate the webcast will last approximately 60 minutes.
As a reminder, on August 23rd, 2023, Johnson & Johnson announced the final results of the exchange offer and completion of the separation of Kenvue Inc. Unless otherwise stated, the financial results and guidance highlighted today reflect the continuing operations of Johnson & Johnson. We will report the Consumer Health financial results as discontinued operations. Additionally, going forward, the Pharmaceutical segment will be referred to as Innovative Medicine.
Starting with Q3 2023 sales results. Worldwide sales were $21.4 billion for the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 6.8% versus the third quarter of 2022. Operational sales growth, which excludes the effect of translational currency, increased 6.4% as currency had a positive impact of 0.4 points. In the US, sales increased 11.1%. In regions outside the US, our reported growth was 1.6%. Operational sales growth outside the US was 0.7%, with currency positively impacting our reported OUS results by 0.9 points. It is important to note that operational sales in Europe were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine and loss of exclusivity of ZYTIGA. Excluding the net impact of acquisitions and divestitures, adjusted operational sales growth was 4.9% worldwide, 8.9% in the US, and 0.3% outside the US.
Turning now to earnings. For the quarter, net earnings were $4.3 billion and diluted earnings per share was $1.69 versus diluted earnings per share of $1.62 a year ago. Excluding after-tax intangible asset amortization expense and special items for both periods, adjusted net earnings for the quarter were $6.8 billion, and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.66, representing increases of 14.1% and 19.3%, respectively, compared to the third quarter of 2022. On an operational basis, adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 13.9%.
I will now comment on business sales performance. Unless otherwise stated, percentages quoted represent the operational sales change in comparison to the third quarter of 2022, and therefore, exclude the impact of currency translation.
Beginning with Innovative Medicine. Worldwide Innovative Medicine sales of $13.9 billion increased 5.1% with growth of 10.9% in the US and a decline of 2.3% outside of the US. Operational sales growth increased 4.3% as currency had a positive impact of 0.8 points. Excluding COVID-19 vaccine sales, worldwide operational sales growth was 8.2% with growth of 10.9% in the US and growth of 4.3% outside of the US. Sales outside the US, excluding the COVID-19 vaccine, were negatively impacted by approximately 500 basis points due to the loss of exclusivity of ZYTIGA in Europe.
Innovative Medicine growth was driven by our key brands and continued uptake from recently launched products with 11 assets delivering double-digit growth. We continue to drive strong sales growth for both DARZALEX and ERLEADA with increases of 20.7% and 27%, respectively, due to continued share gains and market growth. Within immunology, we saw growth in STELARA and TREMFYA with increases of 15.8% and 21.5%, respectively. This growth was predominantly driven by favorable patient mix and market growth.
Turning to newly launched products. We continue to make progress on our launches of CARVYKTI and SPRAVATO. We are also encouraged by the early success of our launches of TECVAYLI and TALVEY, sales of which are driving the growth in other oncology. We expect to begin disclosing TECVAYLI sales in Q1 2024. Total Innovative Medicine sales growth was partially offset by the loss of exclusivity of ZYTIGA and REMICADE, along with a decrease in IMBRUVICA sales due to competitive pressures.
I'll now turn your attention to MedTech. Worldwide MedTech sales of $7.5 billion increased 10% with growth of 11.6% in the US and 8.3% outside of the US. Operational sales growth increased 10.4% as currency had a negative impact of 0.4 points. Abiomed contributed 4.6% to operational growth. Excluding the impact of acquisition and divestitures, worldwide adjusted operational sales growth was 6%. On a pro forma basis utilizing sales in the prior year from Abiomed as a standalone company, MedTech's growth for the quarter would be 6.4%.
MedTech was negatively impacted across all platforms by international sanctions in Russia worth approximately 60 basis points and volume-based procurement in China, primarily in five MedTech platforms: Spine, Trauma, Endocutters, Energy and Electrophysiology. As communicated last quarter, we saw the return to more normalized seasonality with moderate deceleration in the third quarter.
The Interventional Solutions franchise delivered operational growth of 48.1%, which includes $311 million related to Abiomed. This reflects growth in Abiomed patient procedures in the high-teens and continued strong adoption of Impella 5.5 technology in Surgery. Electrophysiology is a major contributor to this growth with a double-digit increase of 20.3%. This reflects strong growth in all regions, including Europe, driven by our global market-leading portfolio, including the most recently launched QDOT RF ablation and OPTRELL Mapping Catheters. Operational growth of 3.2% in Surgery was driven primarily by procedure recovery and strength of our biosurgery and wound closure portfolios. Growth was partially offset by the impacts of volume-based procurement in China and supply challenges.
Global growth of 5.4% in Vision was driven by price actions in Contact Lenses and Other, as well as strength of new products, including ACUVUE OASYS 1-Day family of products in Contact Lenses and TECNIS Eyhance, our monofocal intraocular lens in surgical vision. Growth of Contact Lenses was partially offset by strategic portfolio choices and supply challenges although these continue to improve. Global Vision growth was negatively impacted by 100 basis points due to the Blink divestiture.
Orthopaedics' operational growth of 2.6% reflects procedure growth, success of recently launched products, such as the global expansion of our VELYS Digital Solutions and expansion in ambulatory surgical centers, partially offset by the impacts of volume-based procurement in China in Spine and Trauma.
Now, turning to our consolidated statement of earnings for the third quarter of 2023. I'd like to highlight a few noteworthy items that have changed compared to the same quarter of last year. Cost of products sold margin was flat due to favorable patient mix and lower COVID-19 vaccine supply network related exit costs in the Innovative Medicine business, partially offset by commodity inflation, unfavorable product mix, and restructuring related to excess inventory costs in the MedTech business.
Selling, marketing and administrative margins deleveraged 40 basis points, driven by increased expenses across the enterprise. We continue to invest strategically in research and development at competitive levels, investing $3.4 billion or 16.2% of sales this quarter. R&D was leveraged by 120 basis points, primarily driven by portfolio prioritization, partially offset by higher milestone payments in the Innovative Medicine business. Additionally, IPR&D impairments were $206 million in the third quarter of 2023.
Interest income was $182 million in the third quarter of 2023 as compared to $99 million of income in the third quarter of 2022. The increase in income was driven by higher interest rates earned on cash balances, partially offset by higher interest rates on debt balances.
The other income and expense line was an expense of $499 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to an expense of $226 million in the third quarter of 2022. This was primarily driven by higher unrealized mark-to-market losses on public securities, partially offset by the lower COVID-19 vaccine-related exit costs and lower litigation expense.
Restructuring in the third quarter was $158 million, primarily related to the Innovative Medicine restructuring program announced in the first quarter.
Regarding taxes in the quarter, our effective tax rate was 17.4% versus 16.7% in the same period last year. This increase was primarily driven by a non-deductible, non-recurring pretax charge that occurred in the current quarter. Excluding special items, the effective tax rate was 15.6% versus 15.9% in the same period last year.
As a result of the completion of the exchange offer, Johnson & Johnson is presenting the Consumer Health business financial results as discontinuing operations, including a gain of approximately $21 billion. I encourage you to review our upcoming third quarter 10-Q filing for additional details on specific tax and separation-related matters.
Lastly, I'll direct your attention to the box section of the slide, where we have also provided our income before tax, net earnings, and earnings per share, adjusted to exclude the impact of intangible amortization expense and special items.
Now, let's look at adjusted income before tax by segment. In the third quarter of 2023, our adjusted income before tax for the enterprise as a percentage of sales increased from 35.3% to 37.6%, primarily driven by favorable patient mix in Innovative Medicine, partially offset by unfavorable product mix and commodity inflation in MedTech. Innovative Medicine margins improved from 41.4% to 45.4%, primarily driven by favorable patient mix and R&D portfolio prioritization. MedTech margins declined from 25% to 24.7%, primarily driven by commodity inflation and unfavorable product mix, partially offset by a divestiture gain.
This concludes the sales and earnings portion of the Johnson & Johnson third quarter results. I'm now pleased to turn the call over to Joe Wolk. Joe?