Mylan Posts Loss, Hurt by Lower EpiPen Volumes, Charge Related to Settlement

Mylan NV swung to a quarterly loss as it booked a big charge related to a settlement with authorities on contentious pricing of its EpiPen, and revenue growth came in below expectations as volumes of the lifesaving auto-injector fell.

Still, shares added 1.1% after hours to $39.35. Earlier in the day, the stock had joined a rally among pharmaceutical companies following Donald Trump's victory in Tuesday's presidential election. Mylan shares closed up 4.9% at $38.92, lifted on expectations that Mr. Trump's election and Republican control of Congress would lessen the chances of government restrictions on drug prices—a prospect that seemed on the rise in response to a public backlash against escalating prescription costs over the past few years.

During the quarter, Mylan took a $465 million charge in the quarter to settle a Justice Department investigation into whether Medicaid overpaid for EpiPens. The investigation was just one headache for Mylan following the EpiPen pricing controversy. To blunt criticism, Mylan said it would sell a generic EpiPen at half the price of the brand-name treatment.

As Mylan's best-selling product with fat profit margins, EpiPen has catapulted its specialty drug revenue. Analysts expect it to hit $1.35 billion this year, more than double what it was five years ago. The September quarter is the most crucial time of year for EpiPen sales as children, the main customers, go to summer camp and then return to school. But on Wednesday Chief Executive Heather Bresch said while EpiPen scripts grew quarter-over-quarter, volumes were down due to the lack of wholesaler purchases in the quarter in anticipation of the coming generic launch.

Although the branded EpiPen is Mylan's top-selling product, the company's portfolio is dominated by generic medicines. The copycat drugs are supposed to be low-price, but many saw significant price increases in recent years. Now, their costs have become a target of health insurers and drug-benefit managers.

On Wednesday, President Rajiv Malik said Mylan continues to see pricing across the generics portfolio in line with expectations.

"We continue to anticipate price erosion in the mid-single digits for the remainder of the year," he said.

In all for the latest quarter, Mylan posted a loss of $119.8 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a profit of $428.6 million, or 83 cents a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings fell to $1.38 a share. Revenue climbed 13% to $3.06 billion. Analysts were looking for $1.45 in adjusted earnings per share on $3.12 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Generic drugs revenue rose 17% to $2.61 billion, lifted by Mylans's acquisitions of Swedish rival Meda AB and the generic and specialty topicals business of Renaissance Acquisition Holdings. Meanwhile, sales in its smaller specialty business fell 4.4% to $418.7 million, on lower EpiPen volumes.

Mylan backed its guidance for adjusted earnings this year, cut last month to between $4.70 and $4.90 this year, down from $4.85 to $5.15 previously, due to its responses to the recent controversy over the high price of the company's lifesaving EpiPen treatments. It also said it couldn't give full-year guidance for 2016 given uncertainty over items such as litigation settlements and the expenses related to its purchase of Meda for $7.2 billion.

Write to Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2016 17:35 ET (22:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.