It may be election season, but instead of "vote early and vote often," Celgene
The strategy seems to be working. Doctors are keeping patients on the multiple myeloma drug for a longer period of time to ensure the blood cancer is gone for good. The extended use helped boost sales of the company's top-selling drug by 43% in the third quarter.
Celgene is also working on getting patients onto Revlimid earlier in the disease's progression. One of its goals for 2010 has been to submit new data to European regulators to expand Revlimid's use into newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.
There are still plenty of growth prospects left for Revlimid. In addition to expanding in other countries -- the drug recently launched in Japan -- Revlimid might be useful in treating other diseases. Celgene is in the process of testing the drug against other blood cancers: myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
That multipronged strategy has worked for other drugmakers. Onyx Pharmaceuticals
After a substantial drop during the market meltdown last year, Celgene's stock price has come roaring back. The biotech looks expensive trading at 22 times 2010 adjusted earnings guidance, especially considering that you can grab pharmaceutical companies Pfizer
As long as it can keep up the substantial growth -- EPS is expected to grow 34% year over year in 2010 -- Celgene is worthy of your outperform vote in Motley Fool CAPS and perhaps a spot in your portfolio.