Amgen Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 30% as the
biopharmaceutical company reported sales growth for most of its
products.
For 2014, the company forecast per-share earnings of $7.90 to
$8.20 and revenue of $19.2 billion to $19.6 billion. Analysts
polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $8.18 and
revenue of $19.58 billion.
Amgen reported a profit of $1.02 billion, or $1.33 a share, up
from $788 million, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier. Excluding
acquisition-related charges and other items, adjusted earnings rose
to $1.82 from $1.40. Revenue increased 13% to $5.01 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$1.68 and revenue of $4.82 billion.
Like more traditional drug makers, biotechnology companies such
as Amgen have been aiming to find new sources of revenue to help
offset declines among some of their older drugs. Many of the
company's core products face the potential of new competition as
they lose patent protection in coming years.
With its October acquisition of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amgen
gained Onyx's flagship product, Kyprolis. The drug was approved in
the U.S. in 2012 as a treatment for a blood-cancer known as
multiple myeloma. Amgen is betting that current studies of Kyprolis
will lead to approvals for additional uses. In the latest quarter,
Kyprolis sales were $73 million.
Some of the company's largest franchises, including the drug
Neulasta, reported sales growth. In the latest quarter, global
Neulasta sales rose 10% from a year earlier. Sales of arthritis
drug Enbrel rose 3%
The company's osteoporosis drugs, Xgeva and Prolia, reported
sales growth of 33% and 53%, respectively.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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