Having two drugs on the market and no profitability in the near future does not make for what I'd call a stellar earnings report. But investors in Amylin
Amylin brought in $197 million in revenues, including $167.3 million in product sales from its two diabetes-treating drugs and $29.6 million in payments from collaborators. The latter includes a $15 million milestone payment from marketing partner Eli Lilly
Amylin's other drug, Symlin, which it markets by itself, brought in $15.2 million, up 49% year over year. The company plans to further increase sales of this drug by making it available in a pen delivery system, which is more user-friendly than the vial form in which it's currently offered.
Sales of Byetta made up three-fourths of the total revenues for the quarter, and the $152.1 million in sales of the drug was a 54% better showing than last quarter. Yet even with the stellar increase, sales of the drug came in lower than expected because of competition with Merck's
Much of the quarter's loss can be attributed to the $71.7 million Amylin spent on research and development, which was up more than 40% from last year. The company has two drugs in costly late-stage clinical trials: a long-acting version of exenatide, a diabetes-management drug that's in a phase 3 trial, and an anti-obesity drug, Pramlintide, which is in phase 2 trials. Results from both trials are scheduled to be released in the fourth quarter.
It's not a problem that companies with one or two drugs take a while to become profitable. After all, development costs for drugs in a pipeline can be tremendous. But for now, Amylin finds itself in the same place as developmental-stage drug companies: For the near future, it will live and die by the clinical trial results it releases.
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Eli Lilly is an Income Investor recommendation.
Fool contributor Brian Orelli, Ph.D., doesn't own shares of any company mentioned in this article. The Fool's disclosure policy is rock-solid.