Subject: Genentech Posts 3rd-Quarter Profit On Revenue Rise 
Date: Published: 10/17/91 (69 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology:
    Genentech Posts
    3rd-Quarter Profit
    On Revenue Rise
    ----
    By G. Christian Hill
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.  -- Genentech Inc. posted
 modest third-quarter profit vs. a big merger-related loss a
 year ago, but the results indicated that sales of its
 flagship heart drug, Activase, continued to ease in the face
 of stiff competition.
    Net income was $13.5 million, or 12 cents a share,
 compared with a loss of $133.7 million, or $1.45 a share, a
 year eariler.  The year-ago loss was caused by a special
 charge of $148.9 million related to its merger agreement with
 Roche Holding Ltd., under which Roche acquired a majority
 interest and an option to acquire 100% of the country's
 largest biotechnology drug company.  Pretax third-quarter
 profit fell to $14 million from $15.1 million, excluding the
 charge.  Revenue rose 20% to $135 million from $112.1 million.
    Sales of its human growth hormone, Protropin, overtook
 Aminase sales in the quarter, reaching $47.5 million, up 18%
 from $40.2 million in the year-ago period.  Sales of Activase,
 also known as TPA, declined to $46.7 million from $48.2
 million.  A spokesman said the drug, which treats heart
 attacks by busting up blood clots, encountered competition
 from two cheaper drugs, streptokinase and SmithKline Beecham
 PLC's Eminase.  Hoechst AG distributes streptokinase.  After
 growing at rates of 25% to 30% for several years, Activase
 sales slowed markedly in 1990 and flattened this year.
    Genentech is financing a major clinical trial, code-named
 Gusto, which it hopes will prove that Activase is markedly
 superior to streptokinase.  Previous trials indicated little
 difference in efficacy, according to some medical
 authorities.  Genentech also has nine other drugs in clinical
 trial, including DNase, designed to treat cystic fibrosis;
 HER2, a drug for breast and ovarian cancer, and gp120, for
 treatment of HIV infection.  The trials increased research and
 development costs to $59.9 million in the quarter from $42.2
 million the year before, but Genentech can easily afford it.
 The company is sitting atop a mountain of cash, totaling
 $504.4 million at Sept. 30.
    "We continue to make excellent progress on products in our
 pipeline," said G. Kirk Raab, president and chief executive
 officer.  "I believe the worth of Genentech's tremendous
 investment in research and development will become evident as
 our clinial trials advance."
    Nine-month net was $44.2 million, or 39 cents a share, vs. 
 a year-earlier loss of $115.2 million, or $1.32 a share.
 Revenue rose 15% to $396.4 million from $344.9 million.
    In late New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday,
 Genentech was quoted at $32.50 a share, up 37.5 cents.
    ---
    Corrections & Amplifications
    THE U. S. DISTRIBUTOR of the bestselling brand of
 streptokinase, Streptase, was misidentified in previous
 editions.  It is Astra Pharmaceutical Products Inc., a
 Westborough, Mass., unit of AB Astra, a Swedish drug concern.
    (WSJ Oct. 21, 1991)

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the
 personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the
 hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering
 from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]