Biogen Idec Takes Back Full-Year Profit Forecast
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Biogen Idec Inc., the third-biggest U.S. biotechnology company, Friday withdrew the full-year profit forecast it gave Feb. 7 because of lost revenue from the suspended multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.
Biogen and Irish partner Elan Corp. stopped selling Tysabri on Feb. 28 after the drug was linked to a fatal nerve disorder. Biogen had forecast per-share profit “in the range of $1.60 to the low $1.70s” for 2005.
“Investors should no longer rely on” the estimate, Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shares of Biogen and Elan have plummeted since the companies disclosed that one patient died of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and a second one contracted the disorder. The news this week that a third patient had developed the disease before dying in 2003 dealt a further blow to a drug once forecast to have sales of as much as $4 billion annually.
Biogen said Friday that it revised fourth-quarter earnings to include an expense of $19.1 million for unused Tysabri inventory. That lowered net income to 8 cents a share from 14 cents for the period, the company said.
Shares of Biogen rose 23 cents to $34.74 on Nasdaq.
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