Drugmaker Biogen tops 4Q forecasts despite sales slip

Drugmaker Biogen tops 4Q forecasts despite sales slip

Biogen closed 2022 with a better-than-expected fourth quarter, as more cost cutting helped counter sales declines for some key treatments.

The drugmaker said Wednesday that total cost and expenses fell 17% in the quarter, and Biogen’s bottom line grew nearly 50% to $550.4 million.

Adjusted earnings totaled $4.05 per share. Total revenue slid 7% to $2.54 billion, as sales of multiple sclerosis treatments tumbled.

Analysts expected earnings of $3.48 per share on $2.44 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Biogen embarked on a broad cost-cutting program last year, which included slashing most of its spending on Aduhelm. The once highly anticipated Alzheimer’s disease treatment has flopped since it debuted with strict government restrictions on who can take it.

The drug brought in only $4.8 million in sales last year. Biogen’s top-selling multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri generated $2 billion in global sales.

Biogen Inc. made $3 billion in 2022, with adjusted earnings totaling $17.67 per share.

For 2023, the company forecasts adjusted earnings to range between $15 and $16 per share.

Analysts forecast $15.80 per share.

Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company slipped 18 cents to $288.56 in premarket trading.

Source Link