Ipsen sales up in first quarter, boosted by specialty care

French drugmaker Ipsen (Euronext: IPN) has reported sales of 305.9 million euros ($423 million) for the first quarter of 2014, a year-on-year increase of 2.4%.

Drug sales reached 301.9 million euros in the quarter, up 4.3% year-on-year, fueled by the sales growth of specialty care products, which were up 6.4% year-on-year. Sales in uro-oncology, endocrinology and neurology grew by 6.1%, 6.9% and 6.3% year-on-year respectively. In the reporting quarter, the relative weight of specialty care products continued to increase to reach 73.6% of total group sales, compared to 70.8% the previous year.

Marc de Garidel, chairman and chief executive, said: “Ipsen is off to a good start this year with solid specialty care growth, up 6.4%, notably driven by the good performance of Somatuline (lanreotide) and Dysport and the return to growth of Decapeptyl in China. Moreover, Primary Care, negatively impacted by a continuous decline in France, benefited from strong international growth.”