AMGN Amgen Inc

By Tess Stynes 

Amgen Inc. said its first-quarter earnings rose 17% on better-than-expected revenue, again boosted by sales of key drugs such as Enbrel, and bone drugs Xgeva and Prolia.

The Thousand Oaks, Calif., biotechnology company again raised its 2016 outlook. Amgen now expects per-share earnings of $10.85 to $11.20 and revenue of $22.2 billion to $22.6 billion. Amgen previously had projected per-share earnings of $10.60 to $11 and revenue of $22 billion to $22.5 billion.

Like other big drugmakers, Amgen has been counting on introductions of new therapies and its drug-development pipeline to help offset competition facing some of its older biotech drugs.

Amgen said its anti-cholesterol drug Repatha, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August, contributed sales of $16 million in the latest quarter. Analysts had expected Repatha sales of $27 million, according to FactSet.

This marked the first earnings report in which Amgen has broken out sales for Repatha, which belongs to a powerful new drug class that promises help for patients who have struggled to control their cholesterol using older statin medicines. Repatha is competing with Praluent, from Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Big sales were predicted for the drugs, but both have gotten off to slow starts.

Amgen previously has said criteria set by health insurers and drug-benefit managers have limited the number of prescriptions that get filled.

Over all, Amgen reported a profit of $1.9 billion, or $2.50 a share, up from $1.62 billion, or $2.11 a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, adjusted per-share earnings rose to $2.90 from $2.48. Revenue increased 9.8% to $5.53 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $2.60 and revenue of $5.32 billion.

Operating margin rose to 43.5% from 40.2%. Excluding certain items, adjusted operating margin improved to 54.6% from 50.2%.

In the latest quarter, sales of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis drug Enbrel rose 24% to $1.4 billion, with a boost from higher prices.

Demand for Amgen's bone drugs continued to grow, with Xgeva sales rising 11% to $378 million and Prolia sales increasing by 29% to $352 million.

Sales of multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis surged 43% to $154 million. Amgen gained Kyprolis with its $10.4 billion acquisition of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2013.

The company also said sales of Blincyto climbed 80% to $27 million. Blincyto received FDA approval in December 2014 as a therapy for a rare and hard-to-treat cancer of the blood and blood marrow.

Sales of long-acting dialysis drug Aranesp sales rose 11% to $532 million amid a shift by some U.S. customers that had been using Amgen's older, shorter-acting dialysis treatment, Epogen. Sales of Epogen fell 44% amid the impact of losing market exclusivity in the U.S., and to a lesser extent, the customer shifts to Aranesp.

Neulasta sales rose 4% to $1.18 billion, amid increased demand and higher pricing in the U.S. However, sales of Neupogen sales declined 13% to $213 million amid increased competition in the U.S. since the entry of Novartis's biosimilar Zarxio last year.

Shares edged up 44 cents to $161 in recent after-hours trading.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2016 18:01 ET (22:01 GMT)

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