THOUSAND OAKS (dpa-AFX) – Thanks to strong drug sales, the US biotech group Amgen earned and implemented more in the second quarter than experts had expected. Sales increased by one percent to $6.6 billion, the company announced on Thursday after the US stock market closed. Bottom line, profit jumped to $1.3 billion from $464 million in the same period last year. Sales of the company’s top products, Enbrel, Prolia, Otezla and Xgeva, were all higher than analysts had predicted.
Amgen also clarified its annual revenue guidance. At $25.5 billion to $26.4 billion, the company now expects the bottom end to be $100 million more and the top end $100 million less than previously. Amgen expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $17 to $18.
The figures initially left investors relatively cold. The share price hardly reacted in after-hours trading./he
