By Deena Beasley
April 30 (Reuters) – Amgen on Thursday said its first-quarter product sales rose 4%, helped by demand for cholesterol and rare disease medicines, as it moves forward with a broad development program for experimental weight-loss drug MariTide.
The company’s shares, which rose 2.4% in regular trading, were down 2% at $339 after hours.
The California-based biotech company’s adjusted earnings per share rose 5% to $5.15, beating analysts’ expectations of $4.76, according to LSEG data.
Quarterly revenue rose 6% from a year earlier to $8.6 billion, matching the average Wall Street estimate, despite lower demand for its bone disease drugs.
First-quarter product sales rose 9% by volume, while net prices and inventory levels each fell 2%, resulting in 4% quarter-over-quarter sales growth.
CEO Robert Bradway, speaking on a conference call, said Amgen’s confidence in MariTide continues to grow. The company has launched two new studies, including a trial to see how patients do when switching from a weekly injectable GLP-1 drug to MariTide, which is given just four or six times a year, he said.
Amgen is conducting a broad range of Phase 3 trials of MariTide across obesity and related conditions, including heart disease and sleep apnea.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed withdrawing approval of Amgen’s autoimmune disease drug Tavneos, citing a lack of proven effectiveness and what it described as false statements in the original application.
Amgen said it is engaging with the agency and has submitted a label amendment that would provide more information on liver toxicity related to the drug, which saw first-quarter sales rise 32% to $114 million.
“We are confident in the risk/benefit profile of this medicine,” Amgen Chief Scientific Officer Jay Bradner said.
Quarterly sales of cholesterol drug Repatha rose 34% to $876 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $835 million.
Repatha sales were the “standout” for the quarter, Citi Research analyst Geoffrey Meacham said in a note. Results for other products were mixed and Amgen’s slight increase in its full-year outlook “does not meaningfully change the narrative,” he added.
Sales of osteoporosis drug Prolia fell 34% to $727 million, missing analysts’ estimates of $831 million, as patent expirations led to increased competition.
For full-year 2026, Amgen slightly raised its outlook for adjusted earnings per share to between $21.70 and $23.10, from a previous forecast of $21.60 to $23.00. Its revenue estimate was bumped up to $37.1 billion to $38.5 billion, from $37 billion to $38.4 billion.
(Reporting By Deena BeasleyEditing by Bill Berkrot)
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