Elan's revenue up 17% as MS drug sales grow

IRISH DRUGMAKER Elan saw revenue rise by a better-than-expected 17 per cent year on year and expects to make $1 billion in 2011 from its BioNeurology business alone, after sales of its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug grew further in the third quarter.

Elan, in which US group Johnson Johnson is an 18 per cent shareholder, said revenue to September 30th rose to $329 million (€232 million) from $281 million a year ago, ahead of the $322 million forecast by seven analysts in a Reuters poll.

Some 85 per cent of Elan’s revenue growth was accounted for by a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in sales of Tysabri, the blockbuster MS drug co-marketed with US drugmaker Biogen Idec.

About 63,500 patients were on the treatment by the end of September, up 3 per cent on the previous quarter, and Elan said the EU-approved update of labels to include an additional risk factor – anti-JC virus antibody status – would support continued growth.

“Over the course of the quarter we demonstrated positive momentum . . . Importantly Tysabri demand continues to grow quarter over quarter and year over year,” Elan chief executive Kelly Martin said in a statement.

“The rapid adoption of the anti-JCV antibody assay, which helps to stratify risk for individual patients, will support the significant growth potential of Tysabri.”

The JC virus is thought to cause a potentially deadly brain disorder known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and sales of Tysabri, considered the most effective MS drug on the market, have been held back by concerns that it causes PML.

Testing for the virus allows physicians to more adequately identify patients at lower or higher risk of PML and US regulators said last week they will complete their review of an application to update the prescribing information in three months’ time.

Tysabri, which faces increasing competition from new drugs such as Novartis AG’s Gilenya, had a sharper increase in patient numbers outside of the United States, a 4 per cent rise quarter on quarter compared to 3 per cent in the US.

Shares in Elan, which will switch its primary listing to the United States next week, were 2.3% per cent higher on the Irish Stock Exchange. – (Reuters)