High-profile Bristol cancer drug disappoints, shares off
(Adds shares down, analyst comment)
By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot
April 28 (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co on Tuesday reported first-quarter sales of its new cancer immunotherapy Opdivo that were about half of those for a rival medicine from Merck & Co, and its shares fell 2 percent.
Opdivo, which is used to treat advanced melanoma and was more recently approved to treat a common form of lung cancer, had sales of $40 million in the quarter. Merck on Tuesday said it Keytruda, a similar new drug that helps the immune system to fight cancer, had first quarter sales of $83 million.
"Opdivo sales of $40 million is a little disappointing. We expected $54 million," BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei said in a note. Arfaei said he expects a strong Opdivo launch in the much larger lung cancer market as the year progresses.
Bristol is counting on potential multibillion-dollar sales of its immunotherapy cancer drugs to help drive future growth. Yervoy, an older immunotherapy for melanoma, saw sales rise 20 percent to $325 million.
Bristol-Myers posted better-than-expected quarterly results for the quarter, helped by cost cuts and a higher estimate of royalties owed the company from sales of its Abilify schizophrenia treatment.
The U.S. drugmaker said it earned $1.19 billion, or 71 cents per share, in the first quarter. That compared with $937 million, or 56 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding special items, Bristol-Myers earned 71 cents per share, well above the average forecast of 51 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Results were helped by lower spending on marketing and advertising.
Company sales rose 6 percent to $4.04 billion, about $200 million above Wall Street expectations. They would have risen 13 percent if not for the stronger dollar, which lowers the value of sales abroad.
Bristol-Myers raised the lower end of its full-year 2015 profit forecast by five cents, to $1.60 per share, while keeping the higher end at $1.70.
Sales of Abilify rose 3 percent to $554 million, but would have been far lower if not for a recalculation of royalties Bristol-Myers receives from partner Otsuka Holdings Co.
Under a marketing agreement that ended April 20, Bristol-Myers last year recorded sales of Abilify that reflected an estimated 33 percent royalty rate. But in the recent first quarter, Bristol-Myers recorded sales that reflected an actual 50 percent royalty.
Bristol-Myers shares were off $1.25, or 1.9 percent, at $63.91 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot; Editing by W Simon and Ted Botha)
