Alexion showcases innovative rare disease portfolio

US drugmaker Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALXN) has highlighted significant progress in its early- and late-stage rare disease portfolio and provided updates on key aspects of its long-term growth strategy at an Investor Day meeting held in New York.

Share of Alexion, which forecasts earnings per share growth of 156.70% over the next year, gained 2.44% to $187.63. The company reported $1.16 EPS for the third quarter of 2015, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.15. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alexion will post $4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

“2015 has been an extraordinary year for Alexion as we advanced our global leadership in rare diseases and grew our product franchise to three therapies to serve patients with four devastating and ultra-rare diseases across our unique 50-country operating platform,” said David Hallal, chief executive of Alexion. “We move into 2016 from a position of great strength, with a focus on growing our leadership in complement biology with additional indications and novel complement inhibitors in development, while building our global metabolic franchise and expanding our pipeline with multiple R&D catalysts to bring breakthrough innovation to patients,” he added.