AMGEN PROFITS SOAR BUT REST OF YEAR IS IFFY.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

THOUSAND OAKS - Amgen Inc., the world's largest biotechnology company, on Thursday reported a 15 percent jump in first-quarter profits but scaled back its outlook for the year.

For the quarter ended March 31, the Thousand Oaks-based company, known for its immunity-enhancing drugs, had net income of $304.9 million, or 28 cents a share. This compares with profits of $266.2 million, or 25 cents a share, in the like period a year ago.

On a per-share basis, Amgen beat Wall Street's expectations by a penny.

Revenues were $798.4 million versus $697.6 million, a gain of 14 percent.

However, approval of Amgen's new drug Aranesp, a longer-lasting form of Epogen - an anemia therapy for patients receiving kidney dialysis - is taking longer than anticipated.

Amgen filed for U.S. Food and Drug Administration review of Aranesp in December 1999 and thought the process would take 15 months. Under that time table, sales would have contributed to first-quarter results.

However, FDA approval is not expected until this quarter.

Therefore, the company now expects product sales for the year to be in the low double digits rather than the mid-to-high-teen range on a percentage basis.

Full year earnings are now expected to be in the low double digits rather than the midteens.

Amgen expects the European Union and FDA to approve Aranesp for sale this quarter, and the company is discussing wording on its U.S. packaging with regulators. This is considered the last step before domestic approval.

Once approval is granted, it could take an additional six months to hammer out how much health plans and the government will pay for the drug.

The company has three other products in the approval process, including KGF, which reduces the occurrence of mouth and throat sores and intestinal ulcerations that are a frequent side effect for patients receiving chemotherapy.

``With four new products awaiting FDA action, we are enthusiastic about the promise of our pipeline,'' said Kevin Sharer, Amgen's chairman and chief executive officer. ``We have all confidence that Aranesp is close to approval.''

Sharer said the company expects sales between $8 billion and $9 billion by 2005.

Craig West, an analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., said the company is sound but that its stock might be overpriced.

``The outlook there still seems fine to us,'' he said.

First-quarter sales of Epogen increased 14 percent to $503 million. Demand actually slowed, the company said, as sales benefited from year- over-year wholesaler inventory changes.

Douglas A. Christopher, an analyst at Crowell Weedon, said the infrastructure is in place to sell Aranesp and that until the drug hits the market, this will gnaw at earnings.

Still, the company is in good shape.

``From a big-picture perspective, they are in an extremely strong situation right now,'' he said.