Amgen 1Q profit up 21 pct. on lower taxes

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Tax benefits helped biotech giant Amgen Inc.'s first-quarter earnings beat Wall Street's prediction, despite disappointing drug sales.

The company said Tuesday that net income rose 21 percent to $1.43 billion, or $1.88 per share, from $1.18 billion, or $1.48 per share, in the prior-year period. It got a boost from $13 million in federal and state tax benefits in the most recent quarter.

Adjusting for one-time expenses the company would have earned $1.96 per share, better than the $1.84 average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 5 percent, to $4.24 billion, missing analysts' estimate of $4.37 billion. Operating expenses rose 9 percent, to $2.67 billion.

Shares fell $7.01, or 6.2 percent, to $105.75 in after-hours trading.

Overall drug sales rose 6 percent, driven by growth of Enbrel for psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis and Prolia for osteoporosis. But those gains were partially offset by the continued slide of anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen, which have faced limits on dosing and insurance payments due to safety concerns. Aranesp sales fell 10 percent to $168 million, while Epogen declined 2 percent to $435 million.

Despite continuing declines for anemia drugs, those products could get a boost in coming months after a major setback for a rival product. In late February, Affymax Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. pulled their anemia drug Omontys off the market after several people taking it died and about 50 had severe allergic reactions.

Omontys, Aranesp and Epogen compete fiercely for patients who develop anemia while undergoing dialysis for chronic kidney disease. Those pricey drugs, injected once a week or once a month, boost the blood's production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout the body. That reduces the need for blood transfusions.

Amgen has a promising pipeline of experimental drugs, but it will be a few years until ? or if ? they hit the market. The company said it will present preliminary results from a late-stage study of its experimental drug for the skin cancer melanoma at a meeting for cancer specialists in June.

Amgen expects profit to come in at the upper half of its adjusted earnings guidance for the year, of $7.05 and $7.35 per share. It kept a revenue outlook of $17.8 billion to $18.2 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $7.21 per share on revenue of $18.05 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amgen-1q-profit-21-pct-lower-taxes-220951646--finance.html

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