admin @ Tue, 2005-10-25 08:48
Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Merck KGaA, Germany's No. 4 drugmaker, said third-quarter profit jumped a greater-than- expected 57 percent, helped by a 60 million-euro ($72 million) drug licensing payment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.
Merck raised its sales forecast for the year and now expects ``high single-digit'' growth compared with a previous forecast for a single-digit percentage increase. The company is working on a portfolio of cancer therapies to add to Erbitux, the colon cancer drug it developed with U.S. biotechnology company Imclone Systems Inc., which generated 59 million euros in the quarter.
The company expects Erbitux sales to exceed 200 million this year. It's seeking regulatory approval of the drug as a treatment for head and neck cancers in a bid to widen the use and sales potential of the drug it developed with U.S. biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc.
Merck's shares rose 89 cents, or 1.3 percent, to 70.74 euros at 10:09 a.m. in Frankfurt. The shares have gained 39 percent since the start of the year amid optimism it could soon enter Germany's DAX index of the 30 biggest companies.
The company is benefiting from a research and marketing partnership it formed in September with Japan's Takeda to speed development of matuzumab, an antibody-based cancer treatment.
Merck, which is unrelated to Merck & Co. of the U.S., also said it expects operating profit to improve by a ``double-digit'' percentage rate this year.
While the operating profit margin from liquid crystals, Merck's most profitable division, fell to 46.4 percent from 48.4 percent last year, it was higher than the 42.7 percent of the second quarter. Merck's return on sales ``is moving in the right direction,'' it said.
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