Idec’s Rituxan Sales Rise 77%

Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp. said U.S. sales of its cancer drug Rituxan, which the company developed and markets with Genentech Inc., rose 77% in the third quarter.

Sales of the drug rose to $205 million in the third quarter from $115.5 million a year earlier. Analysts had expected U.S. sales of $195 million to $200 million for the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma drug, the company’s only marketed product.

Rituxan sales got a boost from regulatory approval in the second quarter for its extended use, said Leerink Swan analyst Jennifer Chao. The approval means patients may receive eight Rituxan infusions, instead of four. The FDA allows patients who respond to eight treatments to continue therapy, Chao said. Doctors also may use Rituxan to treat solid tumors now, she said.

“This really bodes well for sustained Rituxan growth,” said Chao, who rates Idec a “buy” and doesn’t own shares of the company. “We’d be inclined to raise our estimates for the fourth quarter and for 2001.”

Chao currently expects 2001 global Rituxan sales of $755.7 million, and she expects Idec to post fourth-quarter earnings of 14 cents per share.

Idec said Rituxan sales resulted in a preliminary third-quarter net income of 16 cents a share, a penny above the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. The company plans to release complete financial results Oct. 18.

Rituxan, introduced in 1997 as the first antibody approved for cancer therapy in the U.S., had sales of $424.3 million in 2000.

The announcement was made after the close of U.S. markets. Idec shares rose as high as $54.29 in after-hours trading, from their closing price of $50.07 on Nasdaq.