US pharmaceutical company Biogen Idec last night posted higher-than-expected third-quarter earnings, boosted by strong sales of its drugs for multiple sclerosis and cancer. Biogen partners Elan on the development of MS drug Tysabri.
The company said net earnings jumped to $157m from $27.2m a year earlier, when it took big restructuring and merger charges. Revenue rose to a higher-than-expected $703m from $596m a year ago.
Sales of the company's other multiple sclerosis drug Avonex rose 19% to $445m, helped in part by price hikes. Revenue from its joint business arrangement for the cancer drug Rituxan increased 12% to $204m.
Biogen said sales of its recently reintroduced multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri - which analysts had once expected to bring in billions of dollars - were $8m. The company said that to date, more than 2,200 patients are being treated with the drug.
Sales of Tysabri were suspended in 2005 after the drug was linked to a rare but potentially fatal brain disease. About three-quarters of the patients taking Tysabri were previously taking other treatments, including Avonex, the company said.
Biogen raised its full-year 2006 earnings forecast. It said it now expects profit, excluding one-time items, to exceed $2.20 a share. It previously forecast $1.95 to $2.10 a share.
The company said the higher forecast was driven partly by strong sales of its drugs and partly by the fact that it did not spend as much as it expected on acquisitions and other forms of business development. Biogen said it had spent less than half the $200m it had set aside for this purpose.
Jim Mullen, the company's chief executive officer, said that competition to acquire products in late stages of development is intense.
