Amgen raises 2016 outlook after Q1 earnings boost
pharmafile | April 29, 2016 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Amgen, Enbrel, etanercept, financial results, financials, sales rise
Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) has upgraded their 2016 outlook after posting an increase of 10% in revenues for the first quarter of the year.
7% of product sales growth was driven the likes of arthritis drug Enbrel (etanercept), anaemia medicine Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) and multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis (carfilzomib). In the case of Kyprolis, sales increased by 43%.
Other high performing drugs driving Amgen’s revenue rise was Neulasta, whose sales topped $1.1 billion worldwide, and Prolia, whose sales rose 29%.
Adjusted operating income increased by 17% to $2.85 billion, while free cash flow increased from $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion this year, driven by the higher revenues and operating income.
Robert Bradway, chairman and chief executive at Amgen, says: “We are off to a strong start in 2016 delivering results for the year and laying groundwork for our long-term growth with innovative new product launches globally.”
In R&D, there was no change between the same period last year with a total of $858 million spent. During Q1, Amgen also repurchased 4.7 million shares of common stock, costing $690 million. At the end of the quarter, the company had $4.2 billion remaining under its stock repurchase authorisation.
The company’s updated guidance now expects total revenue to be $22.6 billion, rather than $22 billion, with adjusted earnings per share in the range of $10.85 to $11.20 rather than $10.60 to $11.
In terms of clinical pipelines, four drugs reached regulatory review stage in Q1, including Parsabiv (etelcalcetide) for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism and oncology drug ABP 215 (biosimilar bevacizumab).
Crucially, its biosimilar version of AbbVie’s blockbuster inflammatory drug, Humira (adalimumab), also went before global regulatory approval in the first quarter.
Shares at Amgen remained static upon the publication, falling 0.27% before recovering in after hours trading.
Sean Murray
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