On Friday biotech drugmaker Millennium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MLNM) announced another quarter of modest financial results.

For the first quarter, sales of Millenium's top compound, the cancer treatment Velcade, were $59 million, up 10% in the U.S. vs. the first quarter last year. Overall revenue declined 10%, though, and operating income was once again flat, checking in at a $20 million loss. For the year, Millennium is still guiding for $240 million to $260 million in U.S. Velcade sales, which would represent growth of 9%-18% vs. 2006 Velcade sales.

Millennium's experience with Velcade is shaping up to be a lot like ImClone's (NASDAQ:IMCL) experience with Erbitux vs. the competition. The only difference is that ImClone has been successfully fighting back with Erbitux in attempting to get the drug's label improved. In addition, ImClone's future prospects look much stronger than the results of its modest Erbitux U.S. sales growth for the quarter would indicate.

Until Millennium is able to show some extra tangible advantages to the use of Velcade over Celgene's (NASDAQ:CELG) Revlimid as a treatment for multiple myeloma, then sales growth for Millennium's top compound is going to be hindered by the competition, and Millenium's bottom-line gains will be equally unexciting. Fortunately, Millennium is testing Velcade in the front line, setting in multiple phase 3 clinical trials for multiple myeloma.

Barring some turn of events with Velcade, though, Millennium appears to just be spinning its financial wheels until it can move its pipeline into later-stage clinical testing. With stagnant sales growth and huge amounts of R&D expenditures, Millennium is the type of drug stock that activist hedge fund investors love to get involved with to realize a higher valuation for shares of the company. Absent this type of event, though, Millennium is not a drug stock I'd be interested in buying at this type of valuation and earnings growth -- unless the competitive landscape for Velcade improves.

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Fool contributor Brian Lawler does not own shares of any company mentioned in this article. The Fool has a disclosure policy.