Can Eliquis Cushion Bristol Myers' Legacy Portfolio Erosion?

Bristol Myers’ BMY legacy portfolio, comprising Eliquis, Revlimid, Pomalyst, Sprycel and Abraxane, continues to face significant erosion from generic competition.

Legacy portfolio revenues declined 5% year over year to $10.7 billion in the first half, primarily reflecting the impacts of generic competition for Revlimid, Pomalyst, Sprycel and Abraxane.

Within the legacy portfolio, Eliquis posted 22% growth in the second quarter of 2026 (results reported last month), driven by strong demand and continued market share gains.

Eliquis, a blood thinner, is co-commercialized globally with Pfizer PFE.

The strong performance of Eliquis helped partially offset the revenue declines stemming from generic competition across the remainder of the legacy portfolio.

Eliquis' sales came in at $8.6 billion in the first half of 2026, up 19% from the first half of 2025.

The price reduction implemented at the beginning of the year is expected to benefit U.S. sales in the second half by eliminating the accumulated CPI-related penalty in certain government channels.

Management had previously expected Eliquis revenues to grow 10-15% in 2026. However, following its stronger-than-anticipated performance in the first half of 2026, management expects Eliquis revenue growth to be 20-25% for the full year.

Despite the availability of generic versions in the United States, Revlimid revenues have been relatively resilient, providing some support to the broader legacy portfolio.

Consequently, total legacy portfolio revenues are expected to decline 4-6% compared with the previously projected fall of 12-16%.

Supported by the strong performance of its growth portfolio and a more modest-than-expected decline in its legacy portfolio, BMY expects total revenues to be $49-$50 billion, up from its earlier projection of $46-$47.5 billion.

While Eliquis remains an important growth driver for BMY in 2026, management had previously indicated that the product would face increasing pressure thereafter, with sales expected to decline by $1.5-$2 billion in 2027. This anticipated decline is likely to weigh on legacy portfolio sales and could offset some of the gains from the company’s growth portfolio.

Competition for BMY’s Key Drugs

BMY’s growth portfolio primarily comprises Opdivo, Orencia, Yervoy, Reblozyl, Opdualag, Abecma, Zeposia, Breyanzi, Camzyos, Sotyku, Krazati and others.

Oncology is a key therapeutic area of focus for Bristol Myers, which is developing and delivering transformational medicines in this space. However, BMY faces competition from large pharma companies like Merck MRK and Pfizer.

The immuno-oncology space is dominated by pharma giant MRK’s blockbuster drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

Keytruda is approved for several types of cancer and alone accounts for around 48% of MRK’s pharmaceutical sales. Merck is currently working on different strategies to drive long-term growth of Keytruda.

Pfizer is one of the largest and most successful drugmakers in the field of oncology. It has an innovative oncology product portfolio of antibody-drug conjugates, small molecules, bispecifics and other immuno-oncology biologics that treat a wide range of cancers, including breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, genitourinary cancer, hematology-oncology and thoracic cancers, including lung cancer. Pfizer also has oncology biosimilars in its portfolio.

Pfizer’s position in oncology was strengthened with the addition of Seagen.

The company inked a licensing agreement with 3SBio for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of SSGJ-707, a bispecific antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF, outside China.

BMY’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Bristol Myers have gained 21.4% in the year so far compared with the industry’s 12.9% growth.

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From a valuation standpoint, BMY trades at a discount to the large-cap pharma industry. Going by the price/earnings ratio, shares currently trade at 9.88X forward earnings, higher than its mean of 8.63X but lower than the large-cap pharma industry’s 19.72X.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share has moved north to $6.86 from $6.34 over the past 30 days, while that for 2027 has moved up to $6.44 from $6.12 in the same time frame.

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BMY currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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