Amgen Inc., the world’s biggest
biotechnology company with a facility in West Greenwich, said it had a third-quarter profit of
$612.1 million, boosted by sales of its Aranesp cancer treatment.
Net income was 46 cents a share, compared with a loss of
$2.6 billion, or $2.10, a year earlier because of costs related
to the purchase of Immunex Corp. Sales surged 47 percent to $2.21
billion, the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company said.
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Amgen is persuading doctors to prescribe Aranesp over
Johnson & Johnson’s top-selling Procrit. Sales of the cancer drug
and an older version of the medicine will be as much as $4
billion this year, higher than a previous forecast, the company
said in a statement.
“They have proven that they can market against Johnson &
Johnson,” said Bihag Patel, an analyst at Banc One Investment
Advisors, which held about 3.86 million shares of Amgen as of
June. “Aranesp is a better product.”
Sales of Aranesp, used to treat anemic chemotherapy
patients, almost quadrupled to $438 million. Amgen is counting on
Aranesp and another cancer therapy called Neulasta to double last
year’s revenue to about $10 billion by 2005.
Amgen said fourth-quarter profit will be lowered by an $86.5
million payment to Sweden’s Biovitrum AB to license experimental
drugs for diabetes and other diseases. The payment may reduce
fourth-quarter earnings by about 4 cents a share, said Eric
Schmidt, an analyst with SG Cowen Securities Corp.
Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sharer credited Amgen’s
aggressive sales force for the rise in Aranesp revenue.
“We’ve been relentlessly competitive to make sure we win,”
he said in an interview.
Aranesp has also benefited after a European version of
Procrit was linked to a blood disorder, said Bridget Collins, an
analyst at Victory Capital Management, which holds Amgen shares
among its $47 billion in managed assets.
“It’s scared people,” she said.
Sales of Amgen’s Neulasta and Neupogen drugs, which are used
to fight infections in chemotherapy patients, rose 39 percent to
$657 million, Amgen said.
The number of patients switching from Neupogen to Neulasta
slowed, Amgen officials said in a conference call with investors.
Sales will increase as more cancer patients receive treatment for
chemotherapy-induced infections, said George Morrow, executive
vice president of global commercial operations.
Revenue from Enbrel, a treatment for the crippling joint
disorder rheumatoid arthritis more than doubled to $342 million.
Amgen added the medicine when it bought Immunex. Enbrel sales
climbed after Amgen opened a factory at the end of last year to
ease a shortage of the drug and won approval to sell the medicine
for more ailments.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing Enbrel as
a treatment for the skin disease psoriasis. Prescriptions of the
medicine for psoriasis patients will help lift Enbrel sales to
$1.8 billion next year, SG Cowen’s Schmidt said.
CEO Sharer said he expects Amgen to meet its goal of $1.2
billion to $1.4 billion in Enbrel sales this year.
Excluding costs associated with the Immunex acquisition and
other expenses, Amgen said it would have earned 53 cents a share.
On that basis, analysts expected the company to earn 51 cents,
according to a Thomson Financial survey.
Bloomberg News
