Amgen Profit Rises 17%, Guidance Raised--Update
April 28 2016 - 6:16PM
Dow Jones News
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)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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