Cephalon reports earnings
On Wednesday, CEPH was off $0.61 to $63.93 after reporting late Tuesday that first quarter EPS was better than expected despite sales that came in under CEPH's previous guidance. The company reported adjusted basic EPS of $0.86, exceeding its guidance of $0.65-$0.70 and up 37% from $0.63 in the same quarter last year. First quarter sales were $345.6 million, up 30% from $266.6 million in 2005 but below the company's guidance of $355-$365 million.
CEPH said the EPS surprise was due to lower-than-expected expenses resulting from delayed product launches. Last month, FDA extended the PDUFA date for Sparlon modafinil to Aug. 22 from May 22 to review new information submitted by the company related to a possible case of Steven Johnson's Syndrome (SJS) (see BioCentury Extra, Monday April 24, 2006). ...