By Tess Stynes
Amgen Inc. said its first-quarter earnings rose 51%, boosted by
lower operating costs and rising sales of its treatments for
multiple myeloma and osteoporosis.
Shares of Amgen rose 2% to $171.87 in after-hours trading as the
Thousand Oaks, Calif., company reported better-than-expected
results and raised its 2015 earnings guidance.
Amgen now expects per-share earnings of $9.35 to $9.65 on
revenue of $20.9 billion to $21.3 billion, compared with its
previous estimate for $9.05 to $9.40 on revenue of $20.8 billion to
$21.3 billion.
The company also said it plans to file for regulatory approvals
in the U.S. and Europe for its AMG 416 treatment for secondary
hyperparathyroidism in the second half of 2015 and for Brodalumab
for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis midyear in 2015. In
addition, Amgen said it plans to initiate this year a late-stage
study of its AMG 334 treatment for episodic migraine.
Investors are awaiting details regarding the anticipated
introduction this year of Amgen's recently approved heart drug
Corlanor and the expected approval of evolocumab-- its
investigational treatment to lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol.
Investors also will be interested in any signals regarding
Amgen's strategy to defend its anemia and neutropenia drugs from
low-price biosimilar competition in the wake of the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration's recent approval of Novartis AG's biosimilar
for Amgen's Neupogen treatment for chemotherapy patients. The
copycat medicine, Zarxio, is the first approved under a new
regulatory framework designed to introduce competition for costly
biotech drugs, which are produced in living cells and typically
administered by infusion or injection.
Overall, Amgen reported a profit of $1.62 billion, or $2.11 a
share, up from $1.07 billion, or $1.40 a share, a year earlier.
Excluding acquisition-related charges and other items, per-share
earnings rose to $2.48 from $1.87.
Revenue increased 11% to $5.03 billion. Foreign-exchange rates
had a negative impact of two percentage points. About 75% of Amgen
sales are in the U.S.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$2.10 and revenue of $4.91 billion.
In the latest quarter, sales of multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis
surged 59% to $108 million on higher volume. Amgen gained the drug
with its $10.4 billion acquisition of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. in
2013.
Combined sales of Neulasta and Neupogen, both of which are used
to prevent infections in patients receiving chemotherapy were flat
at $1.38 billion. Neulasta sales rose 4% to $1.13 billion, mostly
on higher prices, Neupogen sales decreased 15% to $246 million
mostly because of competition in the U.S.
Sales of Amgen's osteoporosis drugs grew thanks to higher
volume. Prolia revenue climbed 39% to $272 million, while XGeva
sales jumped 22% to $340 million.
Sales of arthritis drug Enbrelgrew 13% to $1.12 billion on
higher prices.
In the latest period, Amgen's total operating costs, excluding
items, declined nearly 3% from a year earlier, including a 14% drop
in research-and-development expenses.
During October, the company laid out streamlining plans aimed at
generating as much as $1.5 billion in annual cost savings by
2018.
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.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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