Amgen's 2nd-qtr 2006 sales up 14% to $3.6B

The world's biggest biotechnology company, Amgen, says that its total revenue for the second quarter 2006 was $3.6 billion, up 14% on the comparable quarter last year, which beat the average forecast in a Thompson Financial poll at $3.48 billion, or $0.94 per share. The firm attributes this increase to the performance of several of its leading pharmaceutical products, including: the anemia drug Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), which contributed $1.05 billion, up 26% on the second quarter 2005; $724.0 million from North American sales of Enbrel (etanercept), the firm's rheumatoid arthritis treatment; and combined worldwide turnover of Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) and Neupogen (filgrastim), its anti-neutropenia drugs, which increased 12% to $1.0 billion.

Amgen added that it had seen a decline in turnover from its anti-anemia treatment for dialysis patients, Epogen (epoetin alfa), which generated $613.0 million, down 5% on the same period last year. The company said that this was due to unfavorable wholesaler inventory charges and the conversion to the use of Epogen in the hospital settings, which the firm believes has now stabilized.

2nd-qtr profit drop linked to acquisitions