AMGEN INCOME BEATS FORECAST.Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer Biotechnology drug developer Amgen Inc. has reported a 23 percent gain, stronger than expected, in third-quarter earnings, driven by sales of the popular anti-anemia drug Epogen. In a report issued Tuesday for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Amgen announced net income of $221 million, or 87 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , on sales of $700.9 million. The results beat the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp., who expected Amgen to earn just 79 cents a share. Amgen's performance was also well ahead of its numbers from the 1997 third quarter, when the company reported income of $83.8 million, or 31 cents per share, on sales of $598.3 million. That included a one-time charge of 35 cents per share stemming from a lawsuit by Ortho Pharmaceuticals In 1941 Ortho Pharmaceutical was founded in Montreal, Canada. The company started with one product and three employees and it was one of the first companies in Canada to make oral contraceptives. . Sales of Epogen, the company's most profitable product, paced Amgen's recent strong performance. The Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. company sold $350 million worth of the anti-anemia drug in July, August and September, a 23 percent gain over the same period last year. Amgen benefited from Medicare's loosening loosening /loo·sen·ing/ (loo´sen-ing) freeing from restraint or strictness. loosening of associations of reimbursement Reimbursement Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred. guidelines for use of the drug in dialysis patients. Medicare last year restricted payment for the drug to patients whose red blood cell counts red blood cell count, n the number of red blood cells (erthrocytes) in 1 mm3 of blood; a useful diagnostic tool in the determination of several kinds of anemia. See also mean corpuscular hemoglobin. fell below a certain level in a 30-day period, but reversed itself after intense lobbying by Amgen. Medicare is the single biggest purchaser of Epogen. ``Never underestimate the power of a politically savvy management,'' said analyst Charles Engelberg at San Francisco-based AmeriCal Securities. ``They've done all the right things.'' Amgen also announced Tuesday that its board of directors has approved the repurchase of $1 billion worth of Amgen stock, a move that typically puts upward pressure on an issue's price. The company recently completed a buyback of similar size that it began in October 1997. |
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