Many US Companies Go Into The Black For 2nd Qtr

Many of the smaller US pharmaceutical firms which have just postedresults for the second quarter of 1998 have now established themselves as profitable entities during the reporting period.

Net loss at Axys Pharmaceuticals, however, includes costs pertaining to the merger between Arris Pharmaceutical and Sequana Therapeutics which created the company (Marketletters passim). Following its second quarter of operations, Axys says it used most of the period to gear up for increased production of compounds and believes that total combinatorial chemistry revenues in the range of $10-$12 million for the full year 1998 is a reasonable and achievable goal.

Chiron Corp notes that results for the quarter include a $6 million gain from the sale of a Puerto Rican pharmaceutical fill-and-finishing facility and $16 million of R&D funding from Novartis. Product sales growth was driven by Proleukin (aldesleukin) with sales of $23 million, an increase of 50%, and with domestic turnover of the product being boosted by its expanded use for metastatic melanoma. The company expects growth to exceed 1997 revenues by up to 30%, and royalties related to Betaseron (interferon beta-1b) reached $17 million during the quarter. Chiron also noted that it has filed a suit against Eli Lilly and Vertex Pharmaceuticals claiming infringement of its hepatitis C virus protease patents.