Actelion reports earnings, updates pipeline

Actelion Ltd. (SIX:ATLN) reported 2011 product sales of CHF1.7 billion ($1.8 billion), up 7% in local currencies from CHF1.8 billion in 2010. The biotech's pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug Tracleer bosentan had 2011 sales of CHF1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), up 5% in local currencies from CHF1.6 billion in the prior year. Full year 2011 diluted non-GAAP EPS was CHF3.31, down 4% in local currencies. The company proposed an annual dividend of CHF0.80.

Actelion reiterated expectations for product sales to decrease in the low-to-mid single digit range in 2012. The company, which first announced the forecast last October, said the expected decrease is due to increased pricing pressure globally and increased competition in the U.S. Last March, FDA updated the boxed warning for Letairis ambrisentan, a competing PAH drug from Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), to remove language about a potential risk of liver injury. Tracleer has a boxed warning about the risk of liver toxicity (see BioCentury, March 14, 2011). ...