Narrowing losses for Elan as sales of MS drug triple

IRISH BIOTECH group Elan yesterday reported narrowing losses as sales of its Tysabri drug for multiple sclerosis more than tripled.

The net loss shrank to $85.5 million, or 18 US cents a share, from $93 million, or 20 US cents, a year earlier with revenues jumping 22 per cent and lower costs more than offsetting a rise in R&D expenditure. The company reported an 81 per cent fall in sales of painkiller Maxipime following the introduction of generic competition. Elan, which shares sales of Tysabri with US partner Biogen Idec, received $20.7 million of the $159.7 million the drug generated in the quarter. Elan's total revenue was $207.3 million.

Chief financial officer Shane Cooke said the increase in MS Tysabri patients to 26,000 at the end of March "underscores our confidence that Elan's total revenues for this year will approach the $1 billion mark and that we will achieve our target of having 100,000 patients on Tysabri by the end of 2010". Meeting the target would translate into about $2.8 billion in annual sales at the current price, according to analysts including JP Morgan Securities' Geoffrey Meacham. Chief executive Kelly Martin gave an outline of the progress of clinical trials on an Alzheimer's drug programme the group is running in association with Wyeth.

Analysts said the release of data on Phase II of these trials was likely to be the main catalyst for the stock in the near future. The company expects to release initial findings by the middle of the year, with full figures being presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2008 in Chicago in July.

Elan said it had raised Tysabri's US price in December by 2 per cent to $29,000 a year. - (Additional reporting, Bloomberg)