Actelion keeps growth outlook after third quarter beat

Europe’s largest biotechnology company Actelion stuck to its guidance for mid single-digit core earnings growth in 2012 as the strong dollar boosted net profit and helped offset declining sales of its key drug.

Actelion is betting on its new heart and lung drug to revive its fortunes as sales of its most important drug Tracleer come under pressure from competition and price cuts.

The company received a much needed boost to its pipeline in April from impressive data for macitentan, reassuring investors its business won’t trickle away once Tracleer goes off patent in 2015.

Detailed data from the phase III study will be presented at a meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) on October 23 and the company is hoping it will help convince doctors to switch patients onto macitentan rather than using competitors and cheaper generic drugs.

Sales of its pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) blockbuster Tracleer fell 4 percent to 1.13 billion Swiss francs ($1.22 billion) in the first nine months of 2012.

Tracleer currently makes up just under 90 percent of Actelion’s total sales, but it is facing growing competition from Gilead’s Letairis which has eroded its market share.

Third-quarter sales rose 9 percent to 438.5 million francs, compared to an average forecast of 429 million Swiss francs in a Reuters poll.

The company booked a restructuring charge of 5.1 million Swiss francs linked to a cost-cutting program announced in July, which aims to refocus research and development spending and secure future growth beyond Tracleer.

It said there would be some additional charges in coming quarters, making the total restructuring charge about 8 million to 9 million Swiss francs.

Third quarter net income rose 15 percent to 94.577, also beating forecasts, while core earnings excluding doubtful debt rose 7 percent in the first nine months of the year to 443.6 million francs.

The company also said it would accelerate its ongoing share buyback program and would conclude the 800 million Swiss franc program within the next 12 months.

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Reuters