Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. beat revenue expectations but issued lower full-year guidance in its second-quarter financial results.
The biotech company’s revenue was $6.5 billion, a 5.2 percent increase compared to second-quarter 2020. The increase was driven by higher volume of sales, partially offset by lower net prices.
Amgen’s adjusted earnings benefited from increased revenues and fewer average shares outstanding because of a share repurchase program. Adjusted net income increased 4 percent to $2.5 billion, or $4.38 per share. According to Refinitiv, analysts expected $4.10 per share on average.
Product sales increased 3 percent with double-digit growth for Prolia, a bone loss treatment, and Repatha, a high cholesterol treatment, as well as several other products. In addition to existing products experiencing increased sales, Amgen is looking forward to releasing a new cancer drug that won approval from the Food and Drug Administration in May.
“As we look to the balance of the year, we are excited to be launching Lumakras, a first-in-class lung cancer treatment, and advancing a robust pipeline of potential new medicines to meet the demands of patients around the world,” Robert Bradway, Amgen’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Lumakras is the first and only treatment for patients with KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. Mutant KRAS has long been deemed an undruggable condition by cancer researchers, but 46 of 50 testing labs now identify KRAS G12C as actionable in their lab reports, according to Amgen.
During the quarter, Lumakras was added to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines and gathered increased awareness from oncologists.
“We’re very pleased with the positive reaction from the oncology community and we’ll be working closely with them to ensure access for patients that can benefit from this breakthrough medicine,” Murdo Gordon, Amgen’s executive vice president of global commercial operations, said in a conference call.
Despite the solid quarter, Amgen said the number of patient visits and lab test procedures have not reached pre-pandemic level and that the volume of new patients starting treatments has been lowered due to the pandemic’s impact on diagnoses.
“Over the course of the pandemic, the cumulative decline in diagnoses has suppressed the volume of new patients starting treatment, which we expect will continue to impact our business during the second half of the year,” Gordon said in the call.
The company decreased its annual guidance for GAAP net income to $8.84 to $9.90 per share from its prior estimate of $9.11 to $10.71. Amgen’s stock fell 6.5 percent, or $15.77, to close at $228.31 the day after it released its quarterly report.
Amgen Cuts Guidance For Remainder of 2021
