Regeneron's annual outlook for Eylea sales growth falls short of expectations

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said Thursday alongside its fourth-quarter financial results that it expects US sales of Eylea to grow by a single-digit percentage this year, below analyst estimates. According to Evercore ISI's Mark Schoenebaum, analysts are forecasting growth for the drug of between 11.3 percent and 12.9 percent.

In the fourth quarter, sales of Eylea in the US climbed 15 percent year-over-year to $858 million, in line with estimates. Overall sales for Regeneron rose by 12 percent to $1.2 billion, although the figure missed expectations of $1.3 billion, while net income jumped 63 percent year-over-year to $253 million.

Quarterly sales of the cholesterol drug Praluent, which is partnered with Sanofi, totalled $41 million, short of expectations of $57 million. Comparatively, Amgen posted $58 million in revenue for its competing PCSK9 inhibitor Repatha. A US appeals court recently suspended a permanent injunction on Praluent, allowing Regeneron and Sanofi to continue marketing, selling and manufacturing the PCSK9 inhibitor in the US while the companies appeal a ruling that the product infringes patents held by Amgen.

For the full year, Regeneron recorded $4.9 billion in revenue, up 18 percent from 2015. Full-year sales of Eylea jumped 24 percent to $3.3 billion, while collaboration revenues from Bayer and Sanofi rose from $1.3 billion in 2015 to $1.4 billion last year. The company added the net income in 2016 lifted 41 percent to $896 million.

Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer remarked "this year we anticipate launching two additional important therapies, significantly expanding our impact for patients with serious diseases and our company's growth potential." The FDA is set to issue a decision by the end of March regarding approval of the atopic dermatitis drug Dupixent (dupilumab) after accepting the therapy for review in September last year.