Amgen Shares Gain on Rival’s Delay

Shares of Amgen Inc. rose 4.5% on Wednesday after another pharmaceutical firm said a potential rival to Amgen’s lucrative anemia drug for cancer patients was at least four years from reaching the market.

The gain came after executives of Swiss drug firm Roche Holding said in a conference call that the company would file in 2009 for U.S. approval to market its drug Cera for anemia from chemotherapy, with a potential launch date of 2010.

That is as much as two years later than investors had expected, said Eric Schmidt, an analyst at SG Cowen & Co. “The competitive threat has been a big overhang” on Amgen’s stock, he said.

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen has sued Roche, claiming that Cera infringes Amgen’s patents for the erythropoietin drug Epogen and its longer-lasting version, Aranesp. The two drugs had combined sales in 2005 of nearly $6 billion.

Roche said it still planned to file for U.S. approval to sell Cera for anemia related to kidney disease in 2006, with a potential launch date of 2007.

Roche did not give a reason for the later-than-expected launch of Cera. Some analysts said it was likely that the Food and Drug Administration had asked the company to conduct additional late-stage trials to ensure the drug’s safety.

“I don’t think there is any evidence to suggest that Cera is any less active than other versions of erythropoietin, so the only possible alternative reason for the delay is safety concerns,” said Geoff Porges, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein.

Erythropoietin drugs represent an $11-billion worldwide market, Porges said.

Amgen shares rose $3.30 to $76.19.