Ipsen reports strong performance by specialty care and solid overall growth for 2014

French drugmaker Ipsen (Euronext: IPN) has reported solid growth for 2014, driven by good performance in its specialty care division.

It registered sales of 307.1 million euros ($348.1 million) for the fourth quarter, a 4.8% increase on 293 million euros in the same quarter 2013. For the full year, Ipsen generated 1.27 billion euros, a 4.1% increase on the 2013 sales.

Drug sales grew 5.4% in total for the quarter, from 287.4 million euros to 303 million euros, and 5.7% for the full year, to 1.26 billion euros. Ipsen’s primary care division dragged down the strong performance of its specialty care. Primary care registered a quarterly loss of 4.3%, going from 77.5 million euros to 74.2 million euros, while specialty care sales increased 9% to 228.8 million euros quarter-on-quarter. In 2014, specialty care generated 8.7% more sales than in 2013, going from 871.1 million euros to 947.1 million. Sales in urology-oncology, endocrinology, and neurology grew by respectively 6.7%, 14.0% and 8.8%