Biogen Returns To First-Quarter Profit

US biopharmaceutical company Biogen made net profits in the first threemonths of 1997 of just over $17 million, compared with a net loss a year earlier of $3.7 million. Earnings per share for the 1997 first quarter were 22 cents, compared with a year-earlier loss per share of 5 cents. The 1997 results include expenses of around 5 cents per share relating to the collaborative agreement Biogen has with CV Therapeutics (Marketletter March 17).

Revenues from Biogen's treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, Avonex (interferon beta-1a), amounted to $52.6 million, up 18.2%.

Avonex Roll-Out Continuing Jim Tobin, chairman and chief executive of Biogen, commented that the firm's "revenue growth is being fueled by sales of Avonex on two continents. As a result of European approval granted last month (Marketletter March 24), Avonex is now available by prescription in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland." The product is also available in Israel and Cyprus. He said that roll-out of the product will continue over the coming months.