LGND deal was also mentioned in Reuter's version of LLY financials:
INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co. reassured drug-stock bulls on Wall
Street Monday with a strong third-quarter profit report showing gains for its
blockbuster antidepressant Prozac, as well as some newer products.
Drug industry analysts had been warily awaiting Indianapolis-based Lilly's
report after market leader Merck & Co. Inc. Thursday reported profits short
of expectations.
''Everyone breathed a sigh of relief with Lilly,'' said Hambrecht & Quist
industry analyst Alex Zisson, citing fears that Merck's results signaled a
trend.
Lilly earned $457 million, or 41 cents a share in the quarter, versus $416
million, or 38 cents, a year ago, just topping Wall Street's estimate as
compiled by First Call Corp.
Revenues rose 20 percent to $2.2 billion from $1.8 billion, a gain held back
by declines in some older products and the negative impact of foreign
exchange translations.
''The numbers looked real solid,'' Goldman Sachs & Co. drug industry analyst
Prem Lachman said.
Per-share results reflect a stock split that took effect Oct. 15. Year-ago
results were adjusted for the split and include a one-time gain of 6 cents a
share on the sale of marketing rights for two older products.
Lilly's stock rose $1.75 to $64.375 in afternoon trading on the New York
Stock Exchange.
Prozac sales totaled $705 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from
$638 million a year ago. During the quarter, Lilly launched a
direct-to-consumer U.S. advertising campaign for Prozac that included
magazine spreads featuring drawings of flowers and sunshine.
Lilly will continue the campaign, but will not discuss its costs or success
rates, Chief Financial Officer Charles Golden told Reuters.
Prozac is Lilly's top product, accounting for nearly one-third of total
revenues in the third quarter.
One of Lilly's fastest-growing products is Zyprexa, a treatment for
schizophrenia. The company said it plans to soon request permission from drug
regulators to sell Zyprexa as a treatment for another psychological malady --
acute mania.
Zyprexa sales in the third quarter totaled $202 million, up 29 percent over
the second quarter.
One of Lilly's oldest businesses, treatments for diabetes, was flat in the
third quarter with sales of its synthetic human insulin, Humulin, unchanged
at $226 million.
''We're aware that our growth has slowed down a touch perhaps from prior
years,'' Golden said, adding that a research pact unveiled Monday with Ligand
Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a key to future growth in the diabetes market.
Quarterly sales of Humatrope, Lilly's synthetic growth hormone, were also
flat at $66 million. ''One of the things that hurt us there, more than other
compounds, is the adverse exchange-rate impact of the yen as the dollar
strengthens against it,'' Golden said.
Humatrope sales in the first nine months of the year were $189 million, with
$123 million coming from non-U.S. markets, including the key market of Japan.
Sales growth was led Zyprexa, Prozac and two other newer products: Gemzar for
pancreatic cancer, and ReoPro, a blood-clot dissolving drug used in
angioplasty that Lilly markets for biotech firm Centocor Inc., of Malvern,
Pa.
Third-quarter ReoPro sales rose to $63 million from $39 million a year ago,
while sales of Gemzar rose to $47 million from $20 million, the company said.
''Of our total sales growth in the third quarter, new-product sales accounted
for more than 74 percent of that growth,'' Chief Executive Randall Tobias
said in a statement accompanying the results.
Sales of anti-infective products continued to decline in the quarter, Lilly
said. Antibiotics Ceclor/cafaclor, Keflex/keftab and Vancocin all had lower
sales on the quarter compared with last year. Sales of peptic ulcer
medication Axid rose to $132 million from $127 million, Lilly said.
Lilly reported stronger revenues from its healthcare management unit, which
is dominated by PCS Health Systems, a drug benefits management business that
Lilly acquired for $4.1 billion in 1994. The company took a $2.4-billion
write-off on the unit earlier this year.
Healthcare management posted third-quarter revenues of $135 million, up from
$96 million a year ago. The PCS unit is profitable, but its profit margins
remain below those typical for the drug industry, Golden said.
^REUTERS@
14:36 10-20-97 |
