Pharmaceutical company Elan has reported a pre-tax loss of $129.8m for last year, a 56% improvement on the loss for 2008.
The company said its revenue rose by 11% to $1.1 billion, led by a 30% increase in revenue from its Tysabri treatment for multiple sclerosis. Elan's share of Tysabri revenue came to $724.3m.
48,800 people are now using Tysabri worldwide, up 6% from the end of September and 30% compared with a year earlier.
CEO Kelly Martin said Elan expected to return to operating profit for the first time in several years, helped by continuing revenue growth and lower costs. Elan said it reduced its day-to-day costs by 9% to $520.4m last year.
Elan's operating loss for 2009 was $9.5m, though this figure excludes a $108.7m gain from its sale of its Alzheimer's Immunotherapy Program (AIP) to a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Under the deal, J&J took an 18.4% stake in Elan. As a result of the gain from the deal, Elan more than halved its net debt to $700m by the end of 2009.
Revenue from Elan's biopharmaceuticals business, which includes Tysabri, rose 20% to $837.1m in 2009, but revenue from the Elan Drug Technologies (EDT) business - which makes drugs for other companies- fell 9% to $275.9m.
For the three months to the end of December, Elan's pre-tax loss was 11% lower than in the same period last year at $57.3m. Revenue was up 11% to $300m.
Shares in Elan closed 1% higher at €5.19 in Dublin this evening - up five cent.
