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To: horsegirl48 who wrote (8240)	7/24/2002 8:16:16 PM
From: D.B. Cooper	Respond to of 13815

Shares of Amgen, which rose $1.49, or more than 4 percent, to close at $37.09 on Nasdaq, were trading higher at $40.65 after-hours on Instinet. July 24, 2002 7:40:00 PM ET By Deena Beasley LOS ANGELES, July 24 (Reuters) - Biotechnology companies, including the world's largest Amgen Inc. (AMGN), on Wednesday reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, results that industry experts say could bode well for the battered sector. "The sector has been crushed, but here we are seeing consistently strong earnings numbers. This should help the market tomorrow and going forward," said Matt Geller, an analyst at CIBC World Markets. Hit by an overall stock market meltdown on top of a series of biotech-specific setbacks like ImClone Inc.'s (IMCL) failed regulatory application for an innovative cancer drug, the American Stock Exchange biotech index has lost about 45 percent of its value so far this year. The technology-laden Nasdaq index, meanwhile, has fallen about 34 percent. "We saw strong earnings today from Gilead, Amgen and Chiron. This should show people that the business we are in is sustainable," said John Milligan, chief financial officer at Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), which posted its first-ever operating profit as sales of its new HIV drug helped revenue more than double. The shares of all three companies were higher after hours. "We have a very straightforward business model. We make medicines and sell them to people," Milligan said. Amgen, based in Thousand Oaks, California, said its second-quarter net income rose 28 percent to $412 million, led by strong sales of its new infection fighting drug Neulasta. The company, which last week completed its $10 billion acquisition of smaller rival Immunex Inc., raised expectations for its 2002 sales and earnings and said the Immunex deal will shave less than 5 percent from its 2003 earnings. Amgen did lower by almost 20 percent its 2003 sales forecast for Enbrel, the rheumatoid arthritis drug made by Immunex, citing production glitches and likely competition. The company said it remains confident that Enbrel -- which saw second-quarter sales of $192 million -- will eventually reach $3 billion annually. Amgen left the door open for further earnings upside, depending on progress with sales of Aranesp, a longer-lasting version of the company's anemia-fighting blockbuster Epogen.