BOTHELL – U.S. sales of Cialis jumped 38 percent during the third quarter, while the joint venture that markets the drug dramatically cut its net loss, ICOS Corp. reported Thursday.
ICOS and its partner for Cialis, Eli Lilly and Co., said worldwide sales of the erectile dysfunction drug topped $154 million in the third quarter.
That compares with $137 million in the second quarter of this year and $50 million in the same period of 2003. At this time last year, Cialis had not yet been approved by U.S. drug regulators.
In this country alone, third-quarter sales totaled $70 million, up impressively from $51 million in the second quarter.
Paul Clark, chairman and chief executive of Bothell-based ICOS, said he was “delighted” by the U.S. sales increase.
He added that, as of September, Cialis had captured about 17 percent of the total market for prescription erectile dysfunction drugs.
Pfizer’s Viagra, which still holds 70 percent of the market, saw sales drop from more than $470 million to just over $400 million in the third quarter. Cialis leads both Viagra and Levitra as the preferred drug among patients choosing among the three, Clark said.
Paul Latta, biotech analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle, said he also was pleasantly surprised by the drug’s performance in this country, which represents the world’s largest drug market.
“I think the results were solid. The sales were in line with expectations, and the loss was much better than expected,” Latta said.
Sales elsewhere in the world didn’t grow as much as the U.S. totals, partially because European sales fell slightly from the second quarter. ICOS and Lilly blamed the closure of Lilly’s European drug distribution center in July because of improvements to the facility.
But any tinge of disappointment over the sales in Europe was overshadowed by the smaller loss reported by ICOS and Lilly’s joint venture, known as Lilly ICOS.
For the second quarter, a $70 million loss was viewed favorably by many analysts because it beat expectations. The third quarter’s loss shrank to $21.4 million – about half what Latta expected.
Clark said the shrinking loss was due to “a combination of steady revenue growth, cost management and the timing of certain marketing and sales initiatives.” He said it’s not likely to shrink again in the fourth quarter.
Overall, Clark said, Cialis sales should end up about $550 million for the year, about the middle of the $500 million to $600 million range predicted earlier this year.
Thursday’s good news sent ICOS stock price up $1.50 during a day when some pharmaceutical stocks struggled. When the stock markets closed, shares of ICOS had settled back down to $21.78, up 12 cents. ICOS will report on its individual third-quarter performance in two weeks.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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