“The launch of Cobenfy is tracking as we expected, weekly total prescriptions continued to grow, and we expect continued steady growth with sales in the second half of the year higher than the first half.”

In context

“s grew 70%, driven by demand as well as a typical second quarter inventory build. And outside the U.S. sales were $46 million, reflecting launch momentum in over 20 markets. Eliquis global sales were $3.7 billion, growing 6%, primarily due to strong demand and U.S. sales grew 4% and ex U.S. sales grew 12%. Moving to immunology on Slide 12. Sotyktu sales grew 29% globally. In the U.S., sales increased 5%, primarily due to higher demand and an inventory build which was partially offset by higher rebates associated with increased commercial coverage. We remain focused on driving further demand growth with our improved access position to help offset the impact of higher rebates. Now moving to discuss Cobenfy Slide 13. Cobenfy sales were $35 million in the quarter and $62 million year-to-date. The launch of Cobenfy is tracking as we expected, weekly total prescriptions continued to grow, and we expect continued steady growth with sales in the second half of the year higher than the first half. Now let's move to the P&L on Slide 14. Gross margin was approximately 73%, primarily due to product mix. As expected, operating expenses were approximately $260 million lower compared to the same period last year, primarily reflecting the results of our ongoing strategic productivity initiative. Our effective tax rate in the quarter was 16.1%, and including the impact of the upfront charge for the BioNTech partnership. Overall, diluted earnings per share was $1.46 due to the strong performance in the quarter and includes approximately $1.5 billion or $0.57 charge related to the BioNTech strategic partnership, which is reflected in acquired in-process R&D. Turning to the balance sheet and capital allocation highlights on Slide 15. Our financial position remained strong with roughly $13.9 b”