MedImmune's 4th-qtr income rises 7%

US biotechnology firm MedImmune says that its total revenue for full-year 2006 grew to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion in the year before, while its fourth-quarter income rose 7% to $529.0 million, driven by gains in Synagis (palivizumab) and FluMist (influenza vaccine virus live, intranasal). These strong earnings saw the firm exceed its guidance for 2006, achieving net income of $75.0 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, excluding share-based compensation expenses.

In the fourth quarter of the year, global sales of Synagis, a treatment for respiratory infections, grew to $457.0 million from $439.0 million in the like, year-ago period, due to an increase in reported domestic sales to $403.0 million from $379.0 million in 2005. Income from FluMist increased 128% to $18.0 million and was up a massive 71% to $36.0 million for the year as a whole.

Sales of the firm's oncology product Ethyol (amifostine) reached $20.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 and $87.0 million for the full year versus $25.0 million and $95.0 million.