Biogen Idec profit rises 7 percent

The biotechnology company Biogen Idec Inc. said today that its first-quarter earnings rose 7 percent on higher sales of its two leading drugs, Rituxan and Avonex.

Biogen earned $132 million, or 38 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31 from $123 million, or 36 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Earnings adjusted to exclude certain items rose 7 percent to $202 million, or 59 cents per share, from $189 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier. That result was short of Wall Street estimates for earnings of 61 cents per share on sales of $730 million, according to an analyst survey by Thomson Financial.

Revenue rose 17 percent to $716 million from $611 million. Sales of Rituxan, a treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis that the company co-promotes in the U.S. with Genentech Inc., gained 13 percent to $207 million. Biogen's top-selling drug, an 11-year-old MS treatment called Avonex, recorded sales of $449 million, up 14 percent.

The company's Tysabri next-generation MS drug reported revenue of $48 million.

Biogen reiterated its full-year financial targets. (AP)