April 18 Reuters Johnson Johnson beat quarterly earnings estimates and raised its 2023 profit forecast on Tuesday, powered by strong sales for key drugs such as Crohn39;s disease treatment Stelara and a recovery in demand at its medical devices unit.

Shares of the Dow component, which kicked off firstquarter earnings for large U.S. drugmakers, rose 1 in premarket trading as sales across all the company39;s businesses, including medical devices and consumer health, topped estimates.

Sales of its closely watched cancer treatments such as prostate cancer therapy Erleada and multiple myeloma drug Darzalex beat or met analysts39; estimates in the quarter.

JJ has been pinning its hopes on its multiple myeloma treatment and newer cancer drugs as its older drugs face fierce competition.

Stelara sales of 2.44 billion beat estimates of 2.41 billion as did Erleada with sales of 542 million versus estimates of 500 million. Darzalex met expectations of 2.26 billion.

Meanwhile, sales of JJ39;s COVID vaccine at 747 million blew past lowered estimates of 50 million.

Pharma sales excluding COVID19 sales performed slightly better than our expectations, and it was encouraging to see key new products doing well, said Edwards Jones analyst John Boylan.

A recovery in medical procedures after being weighed down by hospital staffing shortages helped the medical device unit post sales of 7.48 billion, topping estimates of 7.31 billion.

Sales at its consumer health unit, which the…