Biogen Idec Wednesday posted a profit in the second quarter, helped by higher sales of multiple sclerosis drug Avonex and cancer drug Rituxan.
The company, which was created from the $6 billion merger last November of Biogen and Idec Pharmaceuticals, posted a net profit of $827,000, or nil per share. There is no comparable year-ago figure as the two companies were not combined.
Excluding one-time merger-related items, the company posted a profit of 34 cents a share. Analysts had on average expected earnings of 32 cents a share, according to a poll by Reuters Estimates.
Revenue was $539 million. Had the two companies been combined, revenue in the year-ago period would have been $447 million.
Sales of Avonex rose 21 percent to $347 million. U.S. sales of the drug rose 15 percent to $227 million. Revenue from sales of Rituxan, a treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which is co-promoted with Genentech Inc., rose 28 percent to $151 million.
