Amgen Inc on Tuesday said its second quarter revenue rose 5%, but recovery from the COVID - 19 pandemic, which has limited patient interaction with healthcare providers, is expected to remain gradual for the rest of 2021.
The pandemic has reduced the volume of new patients starting treatment, which we expect to continue to impact our business in the second half of the year, the company said in a statement.
Refinitiv adjusted earnings, helped by share buybacks, rose 4% to $4.38 per share from a year earlier, beating the forecast of $4.10 by Wall Street analysts.
Revenue of $6.5 billion was in line with analyst estimates of $6.46 billion, as an 8% increase in unit sales volumes was partially offset by a 5% drop in net selling prices.
Amgen said earlier that Net Selling Prices for its drugs would fall by the mid-single digits after 2021 due to increased competition including from cheaper generics and biosimilars.
For the full year, Amgen said it still expects adjusted earnings of $16.00 to $17.00 per share with revenues of 25.8 billion to $26.6 billion.
But the company lowered its net earnings estimate from its previous view of $8.84 to $9.90 per share from $9.11 to $10.71, and said share repurchases will be at the upper end of its net profit estimate of $3 to $5 billion in 2021.
Second-quarter sales of Amgen's rheumatoid arthritis drug Enbrel fell 8% to $1.1 billion, in line with analyst estimates.
Sales of the new migraine drug Aimovig fell 16% from a year earlier to $82 million, short of the expected $95 million. Sales of cholesterol fighter Repatha rose 43% to $286 million, but it missed estimates of Wall Street for $299 million too.