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Biotech / Medical : Biogen -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: William Partmann who wrote (839)	1/12/1999 3:44:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1686

excellent post. here's a bit more via bloomberg. ----- Biogen Earned $1.80 in '98; Avonex Sales Up 75% San Francisco, Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) - Biogen Inc., one of the world's largest biotech companies, said fourth-quarter Avonex sales exceeded $120 million, up about 75 percent from a year earlier, as the best-selling treatment for multiple sclerosis in the U.S. ended a strong year. That helped the company post record full-year earnings of $1.80 a share, meeting the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp., Chairman and Chief Executive James Vincent said. ''It was -- as the song says -- a very good year,'' Vincent said in a presentation at a Hambrecht & Quist conference in San Francisco. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen's stock price has doubled over the past year, buoyed by sales of Avonex, a once-a- week injection that slows progression of disability in relapsing forms of MS, a debilitating disease that attacks the central nervous system. The company is now working to assure investors that such growth will continue in coming years after last month's surprise resignation of Chief Executive James Tobin, who left the company because of differences with Chairman Vincent, who took on the CEO job after Tobin left. Avonex fourth-quarter sales in the U.S. were more than $85 million, compared to $60 million a year earlier. European sales during the quarter exceeded more than $30 million, more than triple a year earlier. During all of 1998, Avonex sales exceeded $390 million, Vincent said. ''The near-term prospects of the company are still intact,'' said Akhtar Samad, an analyst with Mehta Partners, which has a near-term ''buy'' recommendation on Biogen shares. Avonex competes with treatments produced by German drugmaker Schering AG, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. of Israel and Ares-Serono SA, Switzerland's third-largest drugmaker. Biogen shares rose 3 3/4 to 85 3/4 in midafternoon trading. Earlier they rose as high as 86 1/4. Vincent discussed the results in a presentation to investors at a Hambrecht & Quist health-care conference in San Francisco. The company will formally release its results on Thursday afternoon.

To: William Partmann who wrote (839)	1/14/1999 1:17:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1686

a few more details on the arbitration with schering-plough over the alpha interferon. ----- Biogen, Schering in Arbitration About Drug Royalties Bloomberg News January 12, 1999, 6:50 p.m. PT San Francisco, Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) - Biogen Inc., one of the world's biggest biotechnology companies, said it's in binding arbitration with Schering-Plough Corp. over royalties for a new Schering use of Biogen's hepatitis C drug with blockbuster potential. The dispute centers on royalty payments for a patent related to Rebetron, a hepatitis C treatment that won U.S. approval last year. Rebetron consists of Intron A -- for which Schering makes royalty payments under a licensing agreement with Biogen -- and an ICN Pharmaceutical Inc. drug, ribavirin. Schering-Plough charges more for Rebetron than it does for Intron A alone, said Jeffrey Chaffkin, an analyst with PaineWebber. A six-month Rebetron treatment costs about $8,000, while Intron A costs about $5,000 a year, he said. The recommended duration of Intron A treatment is 18 months. ''We believe the royalty Schering-Plough has been paying us on Rebetron is substantially lower than required by the contract,'' Biogen Chairman and Chief Executive James Vincent said at a Hambrecht & Quist Group conference for investors in San Francisco. The arbitration began on Dec. 17 in New York with the American Arbitration Association, Biogen spokeswoman Kathryn Bloom said. In a statement, Schering-Plough said it ''firmly believes that it pays the appropriate royalty to Biogen and intends to defend its position vigorously.'' Schering-Plough declined to elaborate. ''It's a real positive for Biogen because you know Schering is probably giving them the bare minimum they thought they could get away with,'' said Mary Ann Gray, an analyst with Raymond James, who has a ''buy'' recommendation on Biogen. Biogen stands to gain no more than $10 million a year in revenue if it wins the dispute, Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Alex To said. ''It doesn't seem like it's worth it,'' said To, who has an ''accumulate'' recommendation on Biogen shares. ''They could lose and really hurt their relationship with Schering-Plough.'' Intron A is clearly the more expensive part of the treatment, Chaffkin said. The drug is made by copying interferon, a substance that the body normally uses to fight infection. These kinds of drugs, which must be injected, are more difficult and expensive to make than are pills such as ribavirin, Chaffkin said. Biogen's royalties won't fall as a result of the arbitration, Gray said. ''If anything, it will go up,'' she said. ''So there's not much downside for Biogen.'' Rebetron sales in 1998 could have been about $80 million, while other sales of Intron A may have totaled about $600 million, Chaffkin said. In 1999, Rebetron sales could rise to $275 million, while Intron A sales may remain at about $600 million, he said. Biogen, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, rose 7 to 89. Schering, based in Madison, New Jersey, fell 1 1/2 to 51 1/4.