Genzyme stock leaps as profit tops forecast

Shares in Genzyme Corp., the region's largest biotechnology firm, jumped yesterday after the company reported higher than expected quarterly earnings, driven by strong sales of its two leading drugs.

Genzyme stock rose $4.76, gaining 8 percent to close at $62.74.

The results marked something of a rebound for the stock, which had been suffering all spring after the company missed its first-quarter earnings estimates during a general downturn in biotech stocks.

With a prominent drug factory on the banks of the Charles River and a new environmentally friendly Cambridge headquarters, 25-year-old Genzyme has become a flagship for the region's biotechnology industry. In addition to its 4,000 Massachusetts employees, the company also invests widely in other local biotech companies, and earlier this year it disclosed a $2 million donation to the Museum of Science.

It has also become a case study for how companies can grow to global prominence by making drugs for just a handful of patients with rare diseases. In the past quarter, Genzyme sold $254 million worth of its flagship drug, Cerezyme, an injectable treatment for an uncommon genetic disorder called Gaucher's disease. That represented an 8 percent increase over second-quarter sales of Cerezyme last year.

It also puts Cerezyme on pace to sell more than $1 billion this year, making it officially a ``blockbuster" drug -- even though it has only 4,500 patients worldwide. At $200,000 or more per patient per year, Cerezyme is widely considered the most expensive drug in the world.

As Genzyme's other product lines grow, however, the company is becoming less reliant on Cerezyme. It now accounts for less than one-third of the company's total sales, down from more than 70 percent in 2000.

Sales of Fabrazyme, a similar treatment for a rare genetic disorder called Fabry disease, rose 20 percent last quarter to $89 million. A third drug in the same family, Myozyme, was approved in April and has just started to reach patients. The company reported $6.5 million in worldwide Myozyme sales.

Genzyme also saw strong sales of its second-best-selling drug, Renagel, which prevents dangerous build up of phosphate in the bloodstreams of kidney-dialysis patients. The company sold $126.6 million of Renagel last quarter, up 26 percent from the same quarter in 2005.

Overall, Genzyme earned $134.5 million on total sales of $793.4 million, an increase of 19 percent over the same quarter last year. Excluding special charges, earnings came to 68 cents per share, slightly ahead of the Wall Street consensus expectation of 66 cents per share.

Stephen Heuser can be reached at sheuser@globe.com.