It’s not easy being big
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The two big dogs in biotech are finding things aren’t necessarily easier when you’re big. So says CNN in a story timed to go along with the announcements by Genentech and Amgen of their first quarter financial results. Here’s the story: http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/09/news/companies/bigbiotech/?postversion=2007041005.
Based on the results it issued Wednesday afternoon, however, life’s not TOO bad for Genentech, which posted a 68 percent increase in profit, http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_5648933. That still wasn’t enough to impress Wall Street analysts, however; one even downgraded the stock, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4708312.html.
Amgen, the single-largest biotech employer in the Seattle area, does seem to be having some problems.
The company said this morning it will delay its first quarter results until April 23 to include some early study data, http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-briefs12.1apr12,1,5924704.story?coll=la-headlines-technology or http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=marketsNews&storyID=2007-04-11T145552Z_01_N11215003_RTRIDST_0_AMGEN-DELAY-UPDATE-1.XML. That’s not a bad thing, but delaying the results doesn’t look good, either.
And delay to include the data may be a move to reassure doctors and investors about Aranesp, an anemia drug for with small-cell lung cancer.Some doctors have suggested the drug may actually feed tumors, making them worse, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12amgen.html. This follows the announcement last month that Vectibix, a colon cancer drug, failed a study to see if it could treat a wider patient population.
There’s also potential problems outside the lab. Amgen’s chief financial officer quit this week and the company’s the subject of an “informal” inquiry by the SEC, http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/11/news/companies/amgen/?postversion=2007041110.
