Amgen Starts Earnings Season On Strong Note, Setbacks For Ampio & Athers

 | Apr 23, 2015 02:38AM ET

Earnings season in the biotech sector started on a positive note with Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) (Snapshot Report ) and Ampio suffered setbacks on the pipeline front.

Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories

1. Amgen kicked off 2015 on a strong note with both earnings and revenues surpassing expectations. Earnings were driven by higher revenues and lower operating expenses. The strong first quarter 2015 results led to the company to raise its earnings guidance for the year significantly.

We are positive on the company’s restructuring plan, which should make it leaner and more cost-efficient. This will be an important year on the pipeline and regulatory front as well. However, the company does have some competitive challenges in store for 2015, including the entry of biosimilar competition for Neupogen.

2. The FDA’s advisory panel voted in favor of approving The Medicines Co.’s intravenous antiplatelet agent, Kengreal. With the panel giving a positive vote, chances of Kengreal getting approved by Jun 23 look high. The product is already approved in the EU (Read more: Analyst Report ) presented promising 12-month data from an ongoing mid-stage study on patisiran. Patisiran is being evaluated for the treatment of transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR amyloidosis) in patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP). Results showed a decrease (2.5 point) in modified Neuropathy Impairment Score as well as a sustained knockdown in mean serum TTR at the 80% target level. According to the company, the results support the hypothesis that neuropathy progression in patients with FAP can be halted with TTR knockdown.