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Biotech / Medical : Biotechnology & Drugs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (120)	7/18/2002 11:23:08 AM
From: SusieQ1065	Respond to of 232

mo~mo lunchers are popping AMGN from $35...hope they run it back up...

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (120)	7/18/2002 9:18:28 PM
From: SusieQ1065	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 232

IDPH($41-$39-$40..)..PE 64..MC=6B..meets already raised guidance... 17-Jul-02 16:08 ET IDEC Pharm matches estimates (IDPH) 41.56 +2.65: Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.20 per share, in line with the Multex consensus of $0.20; Q2 revs came in at $97.4 mln vs the consensus of $92.9 mln. Wednesday July 17, 6:44 pm Eastern Time Reuters Company News IDEC Pharmaceuticals profit rises on Rituxan sales By Deena Beasley (adds company comments, analyst comments, byline, previous SAN DIEGO) LOS ANGELES, July 17 (Reuters) - Biotechnology company IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NasdaqNM:IDPH - News) said on Wednesday that second-quarter net profit rose 40 percent as sales of its non-Hodgkin's lymphoma drug Rituxan surged. ADVERTISEMENT IDEC Chief Executive Bill Rastetter said Rituxan, which has a market penetration of 63 percent, "may end up vying for the position of No. 1 cancer drug by the end of 2002." The top spot in that category -- with sales of about $1.2 billion -- was held last year by Taxol, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY - News) breast cancer drug that is now available generically. This year, Aventis AG's (Paris:AVEP.PA - News) breast cancer drug Taxotere, which saw sales of about $900 million in 2001, will compete with Rituxan for the No. 1 position, Rastetter said. IDEC's second-quarter net rose to $35.4 million, or 20 cents a share, from $25.2 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $97.1 million from $64.8 million. Wall Street analysts, on average, expected the company to earn 19 cents a share, with estimates ranging from 17 cents to 20 cents, according to research firm Thomson First Call. U.S. net sales of Rituxan, which is co-promoted with Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA - News), rose 43 percent to $257.4 million, with IDEC's share totaling $92.5 million in the latest quarter. "The company pre-announced last week, so the results were no surprise. Rituxan sales growth seems to be continuing, which has been key," said Patrick Flanigan, an analyst at Adams, Harkness & Hill. IDEC's U.S. net sales of Zevalin, a new drug launched this year that treats non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by delivering radiation directly to cancer cells, totaled $3.3 million in the second quarter. ZEVALIN RAMP UP SEEN AFTER OCTOBER 1 "It's still too early to tell how the Zevalin launch is going," Flanigan said, noting that Medicare coverage of the drug is not expected to begin until Oct. 1. "We do not expect a significant step-up in Zevalin sales prior to October 1," Rastetter said. IDEC also cited the need for tighter coordination between oncologists and nuclear medicine physicians as "a principal roadblock to sales velocity" for Zevalin. Flanigan said he would raise his 2002 sales targets for Zevalin to $20 million to $25 million -- current Wall Street estimates average about $27 million -- and still expects 2003 sales of about $100 million. Looking ahead to full-year 2002, IDEC reduced its projections for contract revenue to $5 million from $15 million, citing a previously-announced delay in European approval of Zevalin. "The delay was known, but there could be a little pressure on the numbers," said Eric Schmidt, an analyst at SG Cowen Securities. The company also said it will take several more months to decide whether clinical trials will resume for IDEC-131, an antibody being developed to treat conditions including Crohn's disease and psoriasis. Trials of the drug were halted in June over concern that patients were at risk of blood clots. "Investors should not expect IDEC-131 to go forward. It's pretty tough to sort out that kind of safety issue," Schmidt said. IDEC officials also said the company would reconsider ongoing development of another experimental compound, IDEC-151, as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis if early development of Rituxan for that indication proves promising. Shares of IDEC, which rose $2.65, or 6.8 percent, to close at $41.56 on the Nasdaq exchange, are down about 40 percent so far this year. Over the same period, the American Stock exchange biotech index has lost 41 percent of its value.