* Tysabri sale grow 14 pct to $399 mln vs expected $402
* Elan Q1 revenues up 17 pct ex-sale of drug delivery unit
* Elan says FY guidance on-track after solid start
(Adds detail, quotes)
DUBLIN, APRIL 26 – Irish drugmaker Elan generated
marginally less revenue than expected in the first quarter from
sales of Tysabri, the multiple sclerosis drug that accounts for
almost all of its earnings, but grew enough to keep guidance on
track.
The Dublin-based group, which co-markets the blockbuster MS
drug with U.S. firm Biogen Idec, said sales of the
treatment rose 14 percent to $399 million, a touch lower than
analyst expectations of around $402 million.
Elan, in which U.S. group Johnson & Johnson is an 18
percent shareholder, said revenues of $288 million, ahead of
$285 million forecast by six analysts surveyed by Reuters, put
it on track to generate 1.2 to 1.25 billion euros in revenue for
the year as a whole.
The sales to March 31 compared to $313 million a year ago, a
figure inflated by Elan’s former drug delivery business which it
sold in a $960 million deal that cut its debt pile by two thirds
at the cost of 80 million euros in core earnings a year.
Elan said that excluding the drug delivery business, first
quarter sales grew by 17 percent from $247.1 million.
“This solid start to the year places us on track to achieve
our full-year financial guidance,” Elan chief financial officer
Nigel Clerkin said in a statement.
Elan, which adds $100 million to its bottom line for every
10,000 extra patients it adds to its MS treatment, has said
continued sales growth in Tysabri would lead to overall revenue
growth of 15 percent per year over the next three to five years.
It expects to make adjusted earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of at least $200 million
for 2012 versus the 147 million earned in 2011.
Elan is also keenly awaiting Phase III data in the second
half of this year on Bapineuzumab, an experimental Alzheimer’s
drug being developed by Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson
in which Elan has a 25 percent economic interest.
Last month Elan asked outgoing Chief Executive Kelly Martin
to stay on beyond an agreed date to stand down so it can first
see the key data that it described as “potentially
transformational” for the company.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin)
