Allergan's fourth-quarter revenue climbs 7 percent, boosted by Botox sales

Allergan announced Wednesday that fourth-quarter sales climbed 7.1 percent year-over-year to $3.9 billion, topping analyst estimates of $3.8 billion. Sales of Botox in the three-month period jumped 13.6 percent to $739.3 million. Meanwhile, Allergan posted a loss of $70.2 million in the quarter, up from a loss of $700.5 million in the same period of 2015. 

Regarding other products, sales of the eye drug Restasis climbed 13 versus the year-ago period to $393.1 million, while revenue from the irritable bowel syndrome treatment Linzess surged 34 percent to $173.6 million. Meanwhile, sales of Namenda XR fell 26 percent in the quarter to $141.1 million primarily due to lower demand, while newly launched products generated $90 million in revenue, including sales of $43.2 million for Vraylar, which was launched in the US in March last year. 

For the full year, Allergan generated $14.6 billion in revenue, versus $12.7 billion in 2015. Net income for 2016 totalled $14.7 billion, compared to $3.7 billion in the preceding year. 

In April last year, Allergan and Pfizer jointly agreed to terminate their planned merger following changes to tax rules in the US designed to make tax inversion agreements more difficult. In August, Allergan completed the sale of its global generics unit to Teva for $40.5 billion.

CEO Brent Saunders stated "clearly having those two big transactions to deal with in 2016 did take some of our time." The executive continued "I'm looking forward to 2017, where we can really focus on execution." 

For the current year, the company said that it expects earnings per share in the range of $15.80 to $16.30, on revenue of between $15.5 billion and 15.8 billion. Analysts forecast earnings of $16.01 per share on sales of around $15.4 billion. Last month, the drugmaker issued projections of "mid-single-digit" revenue growth as a result of product growth, international launches and sales of key products. 

"2017 is a pivotal year for Allergan and we are well-positioned to deliver growth through excellent execution," Saunders remarked, continuing "we have growing products and franchises, with nine product launches planned in 2017." 

Commenting on the news, Cowen & Co. analyst Ken Cacciatore said the quarterly results and full-year guidance should allow investors to evaluate Allergan's growth as a whole.

Meanwhile, Allergan disclosed that it raised the prices of certain products in the US by an average of 6.7 percent effective last month. The drugmaker previously said that it was implementing single-digit price increases on several branded drugs, a move the company indicated was consistent with its "social contract with patients" released last year.