Lundbeck announced Wednesday second-quarter profit of 797 million
Danish kroner ($154 million), up 21 percent on the prior-year period,
and beating analyst estimates of 712 million kroner ($137 million). The
company said the result “was driven by increasing revenue from all key
products and geographic regions.”
Three-monthly sales of Cipralex grew 2 percent to 1.5 billion kroner
($289 million) compared to the same period in 2010, while revenue from
the drug in the US, where it is marketed by Forest as Lexapro, climbed
13 percent to 715 million kroner ($138 million). Lundbeck noted that the
increase in US sales was mainly due to higher prices for the product.
Quarterly revenue from Ebixa was 16-percent higher at 707 million kroner
($136 million), as the drugmaker’s overall sales increased 9 percent to
4.1 billion kroner ($791 million), topping analyst predictions of 3.9
billion kroner ($752 million).
CEO Ulf Wiinberg remarked that “again our key products deliver solid growth and during the quarter we received positive and encouraging data
from the Phase III trials with nalmefene” for alcohol dependence. “At
the same time we maintain our optimisation programme and as a
consequence we plan to reduce staff in R&D particularly in Denmark
and the US,” he added. The company said it will cut between 125 and 175
positions from its facilities in Paramas, New Jersey and at its
headquarters in Denmark.
For the full year, the company lifted its sales guidance, and said
it now expects annual revenue to come in “at the upper end” of its
previously stated range of 15.3 billion kroner ($2.9 billion) to 15.8
billion kroner ($3 billion). Lundbeck kept its annual profit forecast in
the range of 2.3 billion kroner ($444 million) to 2.6 billion kroner
($501 million).
