Tanabe's turnover up 1.3% by 3rd-qtr 2005

Japanese drugmaker Tanabe says its turnover increased 1.3% to 138.2 billion yen ($1.17 billion) for the first three quarters of the financial year 2005, 80.8% of its full-year target. The group also reported a 2.2% rise in its net income to 16.4 billion yen, ahead of its full-year forecast of 15.9 billion. Despite the better-than-expected performance, the firm maintains its full-year projection. This is due to the expected slow down in hospital buying in light of the scheduled drug reimbursement price cut in April 2006 and, the company adds, the likely increase in its 2006 R&D and regulatory investments.

Of the best-performing products, sales of Remicade (infliximab), for the treatment of Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, grew 73.1% to 9.6 billion yen. Revenue from the company's spinocerebellar degeneration medication, Ceredist (taltirelin HCL), increased 6.9% to 11.1 billion yen for the period. In addition, the company recorded a 25.1% hike in revenue from its anti-allergy drug Talion (bepotastine besilate).

On the negative side, the group saw sales of its anti-hypertensive agent Tanatril (imidapril) decline 3.5% to 10.9 billion yen. Despite this drop, the firm says that the drug has still achieved 84.4% of its forecasted yield for the year due to intensified marketing activity and a focus on its superiority over competitors. Japanese sales of the anti-hypertensive drug Herbesser (diltiazem) were 11.8 billion yen, a fall of 3.0% from the comparable period in 2004.