Biogen Idec Third-Quarter Net Rises Sixfold on Multiple Sclerosis Drugs
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Biogen Idec Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. biotechnology company, said third-quarter profit jumped almost sixfold, beating analysts' estimates, after sales rose for one multiple sclerosis drug and another was reintroduced.

Net income increased to $156.6 million, or 45 cents a share, from $27.2 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, when Biogen had costs for withdrawing Tysabri after the MS treatment was tied to a rare, fatal side effect, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said in a statement today. The company also raised its 2006 forecast.

Revenue rose 18 percent as Tysabri was returned to the market in July, and sales of Biogen's nine-year-old Avonex MS treatment grew 19 percent from a year earlier. The company is seeking to use Tysabri to help end its reliance on Avonex, which generates about half the company's sales. Revenue also benefited from higher sales of the cancer drug Rituxan.

``Avonex is still a growth product,'' said Eric Schmidt, a Cowen & Co. analyst in New York, in an Oct. 26 telephone interview. ``The whole market is growing.'' Tysabri sales are ``making progress'' too, Schmidt said, though it will take time for the product to become a major growth driver.MORE