DRUGMAKER Amgen Inc has posted a 16 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit, as higher costs for production, marketing, research and other items offset higher sales for many of its biologic medicines.
The results fell a bit short of Wall Street expectations.
The world's biggest biotech company said net income was $US788 million ($A750 million), or $US1.01 per share, for the three months ended December 31. That was down from $US934 million, or $US1.08 a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, net income would have been $US1.40 per share. That's four cents less than analysts expected, on average, according to research provider FactSet.
In after-hours trading, Amgen shares fell 24 cents to $US82.83. They had fallen 22 cents in the regular session before the results were released.
The maker of anemia treatments Aranesp and Epogen said revenue rose 11 per cent to $US4.42 billion. Analysts predicted sales of $US4.37 billion.
"Overall, I would say it was a fine quarter," Edward Jones analyst Judson Clark said. "It was not remarkable."
Clark said the higher expenses generally seemed "legitimate", such as a nine per cent jump in spending on research and development as a half-dozen experimental drugs are in, or about to start, expensive late-stage patient testing.
Company executives told analysts on a conference call on Wednesday that they have increased ads targeting consumers for some existing medicines, or plan to do so.
Amgen also has increased the sales force for immune disorder treatment Enbrel, one of its top money makers.
A partnership, under which Amgen sells the drug in the US and Pfizer Inc. sells it in other countries, is going to wind down, with Amgen likely handling all the marketing eventually.
Clark said Pfizer was switching its focus to its own competing drug, Xeljanz, which was approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis in November.
In addition, Amgen last month agreed to pay $US762 million to resolve federal criminal and civil liability over its marketing of some drugs for unapproved uses.
Amgen's sales were led by Enbrel, up 23 per cent from the 2011 quarter to $US1.16 billion, and Neulasta and Neupogen for fighting infection in cancer patients. They had a combined $US1.31 billion in sales, down one per cent.
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