By Tess Stynes
Amgen Inc. said fourth-quarter earnings rose about 27%, as sales
growth was again driven by key drugs such as cancer therapy
Kyprolis and osteoporosis treatment Prolia.
The results easily beat expectations.
Amgen reported a quarterly profit of $1.29 billion, or $1.68 a
share, up from $1.02 billion, or $1.33 a share, a year earlier.
Excluding acquisition and restructuring-related charges and
other items, earnings rose to $2.16 a share from $1.82. Revenue
increased 6.4% to $5.33 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters
projected a per-share profit of $2.05 and revenue of $5.2
billion.
Amgen, based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has continued to showcase
its drug pipeline, which includes the potential for a number of
product launches this year. Like other big drug makers, Amgen needs
to bring new treatments to market, as older ones face the threat of
low-price competition.
During October, the company laid out streamlining plans aimed at
generating as much as $1.5 billion in annual cost savings by 2018.
In Tuesday's report, Amgen indicated it realized $300 million under
its long-term cost-savings plan during 2014.
The company has faced pressure from activist Dan Loeb, who has
urged Amgen to trim its research and development structure and
potentially break up, separating its mature business from
faster-growing operations, an idea proposed earlier by Sanford
Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges.
In the latest reporting quarter, sales of Kyprolis rose by 25%
to $91 million, while sales for 2014 totaled $331 million in the
first full year of commercialization since Amgen's $10.4 billion
acquisition of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2013.
The drug was approved in the U.S. in 2012 as a treatment for a
blood cancer known as multiple myeloma. On Tuesday, Amgen said it
had submitted a supplemental new drug application in the U.S. and
an application for regulatory approval in the European Union for
Kyprolis as a treatment for relapsed multiple myeloma.
Combined sales of Neulasta and Neupogen, both of which are used
to prevent infections in patients receiving chemotherapy, rose 3%.
Neulasta sales rose 7% to $1.18 billion, mostly thanks to higher
prices, but Neupogen sales fell 11% to $274 million amid
lower-priced competition in the U.S.
Sales of Amgen's osteoporosis drugs again improved thanks to
stronger volume. Prolia revenue climbed by a third to $315 million,
while XGeva sales jumped 14% to $325 million. Enbrel sales
increased 11% to $1.34 billion.
Amgen also reaffirmed its guidance for 2015.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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