IDEC Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IDPH) wasn't really going to surprise anyone this quarter.
For the third quarter, revenues for the drug maker jumped a hefty 34% year over year to $138.5 million. Net income grew a more modest 18% to $45.5 million, or $0.26 per share, due to rising legal, marketing, and R&D costs.
IDEC's share of Rituxan sales rose 36% to $134 million. The blockbuster non-Hodgkins lymphoma drug, a monoclonal antibody co-promoted with Genentech (NYSE:DNA) in the U.S., accounted for virtually all of IDEC's revenues for the quarter. As a result, IDEC's results were largely forecast when Genentech reported its own results last week.
Overall, U.S. sales for Rituxan increased 31% to $354 million in the third quarter.
Sales of Zevalin, IDEC's other cancer drug, declined from $5 million to $4.4 million. But then, nobody really expected much from the drug in the near term.
Going forward, the company expects to close its $6 billion merger with Biogen (NASDAQ:BGEN) next month. The deal, proposed in June, will leave IDEC with a 50.5% share of Biogen IDEC, the third-largest biotech behind Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Genentech. While some might balk at the price IDEC paid, the addition of Biogen will give Rituxan some friends, tripling IDEC's revenues.
So maybe we'll see some surprises then. But with its share in one blockbuster representing virtually all of its revenues -- and its partner having already reported -- IDEC wasn't going to surprise anyone this time around.
Jeff Hwang can be reached at [email protected]
