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Biogen heads higher as fourth-quarter revenues and 2018 guidance top expectations

Last updated: 09:25 25 Jan 2018 EST, First published: 04:25 25 Jan 2018 EST

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The company also added to its neurosciences treatment portfolio on Thursday

Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) jumped in pre-market trade after the US drugmaker beat forecasts with its fourth-quarter revenues.

Shares in the company rose 3.1% to US$346.50 shortly before the opening bell in New York.

READ: Biogen shares hit two-year high after brokers turn bullish ahead of third quarter results

The company’s recently-launched spinal muscular atrophy treatment, Spinraza, helped to push revenues in the final three months of 2017 up by 15% to a record US$3.31bn. Analysts had expected US$3.08bn.

Spinraza brought in US$363mln in sales during the quarter, also beating estimates of US$319mln.

However, a chunky US$1.57bn one-off tax hit as a result of the new reforms brought in by Donald Trump last month meant Biogen slumped to a loss of US$297.4mln, or US$1.40 a share, compared to a profit of US$649.2mln, or US$2.99 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the biotech earned US$5.26 in the period.

As for its outlook, Biogen said it expected to post adjusted earnings per share of between US$24.20 and US$25.20 in 2018 – ahead of consensus forecasts of US$24.16.

Revenue is expected to be in the range of US$12.7bn and US$13.0bn, with Wall Street expecting US$12.7bn.

READ: Biogen shares advance after Morgan Stanley note and positive data

Alongside the results, the neurosciences specialist revealed it is buying an experimental brain drug targeting various neurological conditions in a deal worth up to US$217mln.

Biogen will pay US$10mln upfront to Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI) for the drug, with the remaining US$207mln linked to how well it does in trials and its commercial success.

“2017 was a year of strong execution at Biogen,” said Michel Vounatsos, Biogen’s chief executive.

“Our core MS business demonstrated resilience in an increasingly competitive market, and Spinraza has had one of the most successful rare disease launches of all time.

“Over the next 12 to 18 months, we expect several important data readouts across both our core and emerging growth areas as we continue to advance an industry-leading neuroscience portfolio.”

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