Genentech Q2 profit boosted by Anti-cancer drugs sales 09.07.2003 23:22 Headlines
BOSTON (AFX) -- Genentech swung to a second-quarter profit, boosted by
higher sales of its flagship anti-cancer drug, Rituxan, the No. 2 biotech firm
reported Wednesday.
South San Francisco, Calif.-based Genentech said it earned $132.3 million,
or 25 cents per share. In the 2002 second quarter, Genentech had a net loss of
$213.6 million, or 41 cents per share. Excluding special charges, Genentech said
it earned $163.5 million, or 31 cents per share, well ahead of the 26 cents per
share that analysts, on average, expected, according to Reuters Research.
Shares of Genentech added 2 cents to $77.40 in recent after-hours dealings
Genentech said second-quarter revenue rose 29 percent to $799.7 million,
highlighted by sales of anti-cancer drugs Rituxan and Herceptin. Rituxan, which
is used in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, had sales of $363.4 million
compared with $274.9 million in the year-earlier period.
Genentech co-markets Rituxan in the United States with San Diego-based
biotech Idec Pharmaceuticals . Shares of Idec eased 1 cent to $38.55.
Sales of Herceptin, used to fight breast cancer, were $109.1 million, up from
$95.1 million in the same period in 2002.
Genentech's stock has been at the forefront of a rally in biotech stocks
this year because of investors' optimism about the company's experimental
anti-cancer drug, Avastin.
Genentech on Wednesday said it's on track to complete its marketing
application for Avastin by the end of September. The company anticipates an FDA
decision "no later than the end of the first quarter of 2004."
In May, Genentech said Avastin did better than expected at extending the
lives of patients with advanced colon cancer.
