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Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (6074)	5/14/1999 12:16:00 AM
From: margie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6136

Agouron's prescription market share now exceeds 39% of the protease inhibitor market. There are now five protease inhibitors: Merck's Crixivan; Abbot's Ritonavir; Roche's Fortovase; and Vertex/Glaxo Agenerase. Agenerase was just approved 4/16/99. The other three PI's were approved about a year before Viracept. <<Agouron earnings fall, but Viracept sales climb>> << JOLLA, Calif., May 13 (Reuters) - Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AGPH - news) earnings fell sharply in the latest quarter due in part to drug development and merger-related costs, the biotech company said on Thursday. >> <<Net income was $910,000, or 3 cents a share, on revenues of $157 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $13.5 million, or 41 cents a share, on revenues of $134 million in the year-earlier quarter. >> <<Third-quarter results included a $5 million milestone expense for a development-stage HIV product and approximately $3.3 million of merger-related costs. Without those expenses, net income would have been $8 million or 23 cents a share, the company said. >> ______________________________________________ BTW, that 41 cents a share reported in March 1998, included a $12 million milestone payment from Roche, which added $0.22 to the 3Q '98 earnings. Excluding those one time gains, 3Q '98 was $0.19; compared to $0.23 for 3Q '99. So it is misleading to say the earnings fell, imo. Sales of Viracept, Agouron's HIV protease inhibitor, were $146 million in 3Q 99, compared to $112 million in 3Q '98; a 23% increase. Sales of Viracept in 3Q '97 were slightly over $13 million. Viracept received FDA approval in March, 1997. Viracept sales for the nine months ending March 31, 1999 were $438 million, compared to $283 million for the 9 month period ending March 31, 1998. Assuming the same sales for the next quarter as this quarter, the annual sales of Viracept for fiscal year ending June 30, 1999 would be approximately $600 million ($584). Nice earnings report. Maybe we'll hear more next week about the other drugs in clinical trials, like AG3340; Remune; AG1549-the new non-nucleoside reverse tranxcriptase inhibitor; AG1776- the new protease inhibitor and so on, when Warner-Lambert has their analyst meeting and the quiet period is over for both companies.