By Siddhi Mahatole
(Reuters) -Regeneron topped Wall Street estimates for second-quarter results on Friday, on robust demand for its blockbuster eczema drug Dupixent, and said it does not expect a material impact from tariffs on imports from the European Union.
Under the U.S.-EU trade deal announced earlier this week, all branded medicines will be subject to a 15% broad tariff.
As the company gains clarity on details of the agreement and other potential tariffs, CEO Leonard Schleifer said the 15% duties were not expected to have a material impact.
Investors have set a high bar for Regeneron and French partner Sanofi’s Dupixent, one of the U.S. drugmaker’s growth drivers.
Sales of the anti-inflammatory drug came in at $4.34 billion, beating analysts’ estimate of $4.14 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
U.S. sales of its eye-disease drug Eylea, jointly developed with Bayer AG, fell 25% to $1.15 billion, missing an estimate of $2.17 billion. The higher, 8-milligram dose of the drug brought in sales of $393 million.
Shares of the drugmaker initially rose 5% but pared most gains after Regeneron said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had declined to approve its blood cancer therapy, citing process-related issues at a fill-finish site in Bloomington, Indiana.
The site, which is also used to manufacture high-dose Eylea, has caused a delay for three regulatory filings of the drug. Novo Nordisk, which acquired the site from Catalent, is in touch with the regulator about these problems.
Regeneron earned adjusted quarterly profit of $12.89 per share, compared with analysts’ average expectation of $8.44 per share. Its total second-quarter revenue was $3.68 billion, above an expectation of $3.28 billion.
The company is also among 17 drugmakers that have received a letter from President Donald Trump asking them to slash prescription drug prices in the United States to match overseas rates.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
About the Author
