Reuters: Hot Stocks: UPDATE 1-Biogen's new MS drug sales shine in 1st quarter on market

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UPDATE 1-Biogen's new MS drug sales shine in 1st quarter on market Jul 25th 2013, 11:39 Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:39am EDT (Adds 2nd-quarter results, new 2013 forecast) July 25 (Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc on Thursday reported that sales of its new multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera blew away initial Wall Street estimates, confirming an extremely strong launch for a medicine expected to dominate the market for oral treatments. In its first quarter on the market, Tecfidera had sales of $192 million, including inventory stocking. Biogen said about $110 million of the total represented underlying patient demand. Analysts looked for about $66 million for the quarter, but the actual sales were well above even the more bullish forecasts of around $90 million. Tecfidera is widely considered to be Biogen's most important future growth driver, with analysts targeting eventual peak sales in excess of $3 billion. Biogen also reported a much higher-than-expected second- quarter profit and raised its full-year forecast. The biotechnology company said net profit rose to $491 million, or $2.06 per share, from $387.1 million, or $1.61 per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, Biogen earned $2.30 per share for the quarter. Analysts on average expected $1.93 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Biogen now expects 2013 earnings of $8.25 to $8.50 per share, excluding items, up from its prior forecast of $7.80 to $7.90 per share. It anticipates revenue growing about 22 percent to 23 percent, up from a previous view of 16 percent to 18 percent growth. Revenue rose 21 percent to $1.7 billion, exceeding Wall Street estimates of $1.62 billion. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Maureen Bavdek) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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