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Bristol, Gilead file for HIV 3-drug combo drug approval
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Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:44 AM ET
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and partner Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday they have filed for marketing approval for their combination HIV treatment.
The companies said they have filed an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a product that combines in a once-daily tablet the HIV drugs Sustiva, which is made by Bristol-Myers, and Truvada, made by Gilead.
Truvada is a fixed-dose product that contains two Gilead drugs: Viread and Emtriva. All three drugs work by blocking reverse transcriptase, an enzyme necessary for HIV replication.
Bristol-Myers profit up as new drugs supplant old
Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:36 AM ET
By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday its first-quarter earnings rose as higher sales of new drugs offset declines in sales of older products hurt by generic competition.
Net profit rose to $714 million, or 36 cents a share, from $533 million, or 27 cents a share, a year ago.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 32 cents a share, in line with the average estimate from analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 3 percent to $4.7 billion, as a 17 percent rise in U.S. sales overshadowed a 10 percent decline in overseas sales, where the company's cholesterol drug Pravachol and cancer drug Taxol have been hurt by generic competition.
"Bristol-Myers earnings will be down this year but then we expect to see a recovery based on the introduction of new drugs and cost cuts," said Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan.
Sales of Plavix, sold in partnership with Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), jumped 21 percent to $986 million as more patients were given the blood-thinner to prevent heart attacks.
Overall sales were boosted by growth of the company's blood pressure treatment Avapro, schizophrenia drug Abilify, HIV drug Reyataz and colon cancer treatment Erbitux.
Bristol-Myers reiterated its 2006 earnings forecast from continuing operations of between $1.15 a share and $1.25 a share.
The company said it expects to lose between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion in sales compared to 2005 from products that have lost or will lose market exclusivity in 2004, 2005 or 2006.
Sales of Abilify in the latest quarter rose 51 percent to $283 million. Erbitux sales rose 59 percent to $138 million, helped by recent approval to also use it to treat head and neck cancer.
Taxes were cut to 27.5 percent, from 28.9 percent a year ago, and the company cut back on advertising due to the sale last year of its U.S. and Canadian consumer medicines.
The company's shares rose 5 cents, to $25.02, in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Its shares have risen about 6 percent since the beginning of the year, compared with about a 1 percent decline for the drug sector.
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