Biogen profit tops expectations; focus on CEO search, new drugs
(Adds analyst, company comment, share price)
By Bill Berkrot
Oct 26 (Reuters) - Biogen Inc on Wednesday reported better-than-expected third quarter profit, driven by higher sales of its lead multiple sclerosis drug and lower costs, and its shares rose more than 4 percent.
However, investor focus is likely to turn to promising new drugs in late-stage development, including a potential blockbuster Alzheimer's treatment, and the company's search for a successor to Chief Executive George Scangos, who in July said he would step down once his replacement is found.
Scangos, on a conference call with analysts, said the CEO search was progressing and that "very high quality" candidates were being interviewed, but he declined to provide a timeline.
"The sooner we have a new CEO come in, the better it is for all of us," Scangos said.
The company expressed encouragement over early data it has seen for the Alzheimer's drug aducanumab, currently in Phase III testing, and said more data would be presented at a medical meeting in December.
"What was most important was comments around Alzheimer's, noting again their view of consistent efficacy and safety from the prior data, referring to cognitive endpoints as well as biomarker data," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee, calling aducanumab "potentially the most exciting Alzheimer's drug in late stage development."
Any successful Alzheimer's treatment is virtually assured of becoming a multibillion-dollar product, given the huge need.
Biogen also said it filed its application with U.S. regulators seeking priority review for nusinersen, which would be the first treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, a leading genetic cause of death in infants. Priority review for the drug, being developed with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, would bring an approval decision within six months.
"Many investors are debating whether or not this could get a very, very fast approval given the unmet medical need. There's a lot of enthusiasm over that," Yee said. "The are filing for a broad label, which could be significant upside if that occurs."
Biogen also sees biosimilars as an important growth opportunity. It has begun selling cheaper versions of Amgen's Enbrel and Johnson & Johnson's Remicade rheumatoid arthritis drugs in Europe.
Excluding items, Biogen earned $5.19 per share in the quarter, topping analysts' expectations by 22 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales of the biotechnology company's market-leading oral MS drug Tecfidera of $1.03 billion, edged past analysts' estimates of $1 billion.
Total revenue rose 6 percent to $2.96 billion, ahead of Wall Street estimates of $2.91 billion.
Biogen shares were up $13 at $299.22 on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Nick Zieminski)