Ipsen shares up as sales show resilience despite pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to hit sales at French drugmaker Ipsen (Euronext: IPN), but the company has shown signs of recovery in its third-quarter 2020 figures, sending shares 4% higher on Thursday morning.

Group sales were 633.3 million euros ($649 million) for the latest quarter, which was a 1.8% reported decline, or up 2.2% at constant currencies, with the company saying that its Specialty Care portfolio, comprising of differentiated products for critical conditions, had generally remained relatively resilient.

Sales of Somatuline (lanreotide), Decapeptyl (triptorelin pamoate) and Onivyde (irinotecan) were negatively impacted by lower patient diagnoses and missed treatments due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic and the challenging hospital environment, however.