Regeneron Reports Slowing Sales Growth for Key Eye Drug

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday said revenue soared in its fourth quarter, but the company missed analyst expectations as sales growth of its key eye-disease treatment slowed.

Regeneron added that it expects U.S. sales of the drug, Eylea, to grow about 20% in 2016. Sales of Eylea grew 54% in 2015.

Shares, which have fallen 30% in the last three months, fell 7.8% to $360 in light premarket trading.

Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Regeneron commercializes medicines for eye diseases, high cholesterol and a rare inflammatory condition. The company also has a number of other treatments in its pipeline.

Last year, U.S. and European regulators approved Praluent, the first of a powerful new class of cholesterol-lowering medicines that Regeneron developed with French drugmaker Sanofi SA. Sanofi records sales of the product, and Regeneron shares in the profits. Net sales of Praluent in the quarter were $7 million.

U.S. sales of Eylea increased 44% to $746 million compared with the same quarter a year prior, but it grew 65% in the third quarter and 58% in the second quarter. Sequentially, sales increased 1.6% from the third quarter.

For the period ended Dec. 31, Regeneron posted a profit of $155 million, or $1.34 a share, up from $90.1 million, or 78 cents a share, a year before. Excluding special items, per-share earnings were $2.83 a share.

Revenue surged 37% to $1.1 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast adjusted per-share earnings of $3.36 on revenue of $1.17 billion.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 07:55 ET (12:55 GMT)

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