Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12642

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Imclone Swings to Loss on Legal Charge
Yahoo.com 2008 Jan 31
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080131/earns_imclone.html?.v=1

Full text:

Drug maker Imclone Systems Inc. Thursday said it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on a hefty litigation charge but reported better-than-expected results.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Imclone lost $19.9 million, or 23 cents per share, compared with a profit of $46.6 million, or 53 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding a 45 cent-per-share charge for a patent litigation settlement and other items, adjusted earnings totaled 41 cents per share.

Revenue rose 14.5 percent to $151.4 million from $132.2 million. Global sales of cancer drug Erbitux rose 27 percent to $371 million. Research and development costs as well as selling, general and administrative expenses climbed.

The results beat estimates by analysts polled by Thomson Financial who, on average, expected profit of 27 cents per share, on revenue of $146.9 million.

“ImClone made tremendous progress in 2007 in its transformation from a one-product company facing challenges on many fronts to a fully-integrated, multi-product biotechnology company well positioned to be a global leader in antibody-based therapeutics,” said Chief Executive John H. Johnson.

For the full year of 2007, earnings fell 89 percent to $39.8 million from $370.7 million.

Adjusted earnings, excluding the litigation charges and other items, were $1.43 per share.

Revenue fell 13 percent to $590.8 million from $677.8 million, a year earlier.