[olsen]

Amgen Profit Rises as Drug Sales, Prices Increase

By Rob Waters

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, said first-quarter profit climbed 15 percent as it boosted sales and prices on its drugs. Revenue for 2010 will be at the low end of previous forecasts due to costs of the U.S. health-care overhaul, the company said.

Net income rose to $1.17 billion, or $1.18 a share, from $1.02 billion, or 98 cents, a year earlier, Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen said today in a statement. Earnings, excluding certain items, were $1.30, beating the $1.24 average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Shares fell in extended trading.

Revenue rose 8.6 percent to $3.59 billion from $3.31 billion a year ago. Amgen was helped by first-quarter price increases of 1 percent to 5 percent on six drugs, said Eric Schmidt, a Cowen & Co. analyst based in New York. While the company is poised for growth, investors appear to be waiting for the release of reports on whether its experimental bone drug denosumab prevents prostate cancer from spreading to bone, Schmidt said...

Amgen fell 23 cents, less than 1 percent, to $58.48 at 5:55 p.m. New York time in extended trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange following the earnings announcement, after declining 2.4 percent to $58.71 at the close.

Denosumab Review

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to complete a review by July 25 of Amgen’s application to market denosumab for older women with osteoporosis, Amgen said on Feb. 19. Eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg project denosumab revenue to reach $176 million this year and $990 million in 2011. ..



Amgen said 2010 revenue would be on the low end of the forecast of $15.1 billion to $15.5 billion estimated last quarter. That’s less than the $15.3 billion average estimate by 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Overhaul Law Impact

Provisions of the U.S. health-care overhaul law, including one that increases fees paid by drugmakers, cost Amgen $33 million in the first quarter and will increase costs by $200 million to $250 million this year, said George Morrow, the company’s executive vice president for global operations, in a conference call with analysts. The company won’t benefit from greater numbers of Americans being covered by health insurance until 2014, he said...



Combined sales of the company’s two anemia drugs, Aranesp and Epogen, rose 5 percent to $1.25 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in San Francisco at rwaters5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 21, 2010 18:59 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=ahFnRezRZRLQ

[Bob Dawson]

And to think that there was a time when we believed that "Crime does not pay."