Amgen's 1st-qtr net income rises 15%

US biotechnology firm Amgen posted a 15% rise in net income of $305million for the first quarter of 2001 and earnings per share up 12% at $0.28, on total product sales of $798 million, up 14% on the like, year-earlier quarter. However, the company has lowered its EPS growth-rate guidance for 2001 from mid-teens to low-double-digits due to a change in the expected launch date of its developmental anemia drug Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa; see also page 21).

First-quarter sales of Epogen (epoetin alfa), Amgen's anemia therapy for patients on dialysis, rose 14% to $503 million, and the firm "believes that growth in demand slowed to a high-single-digit from a low-double-digit rate and that the reported growth rate benefited from year-over-year wholesaler inventory changes."

Turnover of Neupogen (filgrastim), used to reduce the risk of infection during chemotherapy, rose 18% to $294 million and Amgen continues to expect this drug to grow at a high-single-digit rate in 2001.