Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) reported profit for the fourth quarter that declined but easily topped expectations as its sales of treatments for multiple sclerosis surged.
Sales of its treatment Tecfidera jumped by 8.4% to over $993 million as sales of other treatments it has for multiple sclerosis dropped.
The profit at the biotechnology company fell by 6% to just over $831.5 million equal to $3.77 a share. Earnings, which were adjusted for gains and costs that were one-off, ended at $4.50 a share, which was far higher than the earnings per share projected by analysts on Wall Street of $4.07.
Revenue was up 7.5% to end the quarter at $2.84 billion, which also beat forecasts by Wall Street of just over $2.71 billion.
The company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts said revenue from other drugs for multiple sclerosis such as Plegridy and Avonex dropped 4.8% to just over $740 million. Sales of Tysabri another treatment for multiple sclerosis also dropped, but just slightly for the period at $481 million.
Costs and expenses were up 12.5% to end the quarter at $1.67 billion.
For the full year, the company posted a $3.55 billion profit equal to per share earnings of $15.34. The revenue for the full year was posted at just over $10.76 billion.
Biogen is expecting earnings for the full year to be between $18.30 and $18.60 a share with revenue somewhere between $11.1 billion and $11.3 billion.
The stock was up $12.16 equal to about 4.6% in Wednesday morning trading to reach $271.80 by 10:00 a.m.
Stock at Biogen Inc has fallen by over 15% since the start of 2016, while the S&P 500 index has fallen just short of 7%.
The stock dropped by 28% over the past 12 months.
Biogen and the rest of the biopharmaceutical segment have been under great pressure amid the ongoing debate of drug pricing with the public. Earlier in January, George Scangos the CEO at Biogen spoke about the issue of drug pricing.
He said it was interesting to look at it backwards because our sector raised prices of drugs and the money was used to bring online new compounds.
Last quarter, Biogen made an announcement it was restructuring that would involve cutting back over 11% of its entire workforce.
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