Botox Sales Help Maker Swing to Profit

Allergan Inc., the maker of Botox injections to smooth wrinkles, said Wednesday that it had second-quarter earnings of $91.8 million as sales of eye-care drugs and Botox increased.

Net income was 69 cents a share, contrasted with a net loss of $107.9 million, or 83 cents, a year earlier, the Irvine-based company said. Sales rose 15% to $506.2 million from $441.5 million.

Sales of eye-care pharmaceuticals rose 9.6% to $277.6 million as the company made distribution agreements to sell drugs in Japan. Botox sales rose 24% to $176.9 million, benefiting from an improving economy, Chief Executive David Pyott said during a conference call with analysts and investors.

“Botox is a household name now,” said Timothy Chiang, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder Inc. in New York. “It’s like Heinz ketchup. When you buy ketchup you buy Heinz, and when you get a botulinum injection you’re going to get Botox.”

Chiang doesn’t rate the stock and Natexis doesn’t have an investment banking relationship with Allergan.

Allergan said that excluding an income tax benefit and an unrealized gain, it earned 64 cents a share in the period. On that basis, the company was expected to earn 62 cents, the average estimate of 11 analysts polled by Thomson First Call. Analysts expected revenue of $490.4 million.

In the year-earlier period, Allergan had costs of $178.1 million, mostly related to its acquisition of research partner Bardeen Sciences Co.

A Food and Drug Administration panel voted against approval of the company’s oral tazarotene treatment for psoriasis this month. The FDA, which usually follows its panels’ recommendations, will make a final decision on the drug in September.

Some analysts expected an oral tazarotene treatment to add as much as $200 million to annual revenue within the next few years, Chiang said.

Shares of Allergan rose 95 cents to $72.95 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have fallen 11% since the FDA advisory panel met July 13.

Allergan is working with the FDA to sort out the panel’s issues, which include concern that doctors will prescribe the drug to treat acne. Tazarotene may cause birth defects if women use it while they are pregnant.

“Since that infamous Monday, the dust has settled,” Pyott said during the conference call. “We will be working with the agency to address what we think are their issues.”