Drug outlook boosts Amgen stock

Shares of Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, rose 2% on Monday after Bear Stearns & Co. raised its price target, saying Amgen may be able to block a competing anemia drug from Roche Holding.

New developments in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by Thousand Oaks-based Amgen suggest that Roche probably won’t win approval to sell its Cera medication in the U.S., Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst at Bear Stearns in New York who owns Amgen shares, said in a note. Amgen shares may rise to $83 this year, 7.8% above the previous target, he said.

Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, needs U.S. regulatory approval to market Cera as a competitor to Amgen’s Epogen and Aranesp, anemia treatments that brought in $5.73 billion in 2005, or 46% of Amgen’s revenue.

Amgen shares rose $1.60 to $75.85. The stock has gained 11% this year. Roche shares fell 1.8% in trading in Zurich.

Roche spokeswoman Linda Dyson said the company believed that its experimental drug didn’t infringe Amgen patents. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its decision on Cera by May, she said.