Amgen Posts 76% Gain in Its Third-Quarter Net

* Amgen Inc. said third-quarter earnings soared 76% on a 66% increase in revenue, fueled by strong sales of its drugs for dialysis and chemotherapy patients.

Amgen said it earned $88.9 million, or 60 cents a share, up from $49.4 million, or 34 cents, for the same period a year ago. Revenue increased to $303.4 million from $178.6 million.

Per-share earnings for the third quarter were 15% above the mean estimate of 52 cents a share in a survey of 19 analysts by Zacks Investment Research.

The Thousand Oaks-based firm attributed 7 cents of the higher than expected earnings to investment portfolio profit and a change in reporting periods for sales of one of its drugs, Neupogen, in Europe.