Amgen Posts Huge Gain in 3rd-Quarter Profit

Amgen Inc., now fully marketing its first commercial drug, said its fiscal third-quarter profit soared to $7.98 million from $177,000 a year earlier.

The higher earnings for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 came on a tripling of Amgen’s revenue, to $67.3 million from $21.3 million.

Amgen, a Thousand Oaks-based biotechnology concern, last year began selling its drug Epogen that is used in treating anemia, particularly for patients undergoing treatment for kidney disease.

For the first nine months of its fiscal year, Amgen’s profit jumped to $12.7 million from $802,000, while its revenue rose to $139.9 million from $62.3 million.

But Amgen is still embroiled in a key patent dispute involving the anti-anemia drug that a rival company has developed.