Thursday, May 14, 2009

AP: Insmed swings to 1Q profit on Merck deal

AP story on Insmed's financial success since selling the FOB business to Merck...

Insmed swings to 1Q profit on Merck deal
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Insmed Inc. reported a first-quarter profit Wednesday, bolstered by Merck & Co. buying several of the biopharmaceutical company's drug candidates.

In February, Merck said it would pay $130 million to buy a slate of biotech drug candidates and a manufacturing facility from Insmed.

The company earned $117.8 million, or 96 cents per share, compared with a loss of $4.9 million, or 4 cents per share, during the period a year prior. Revenue remained flat at $2.4 million.

The swing to a profit came from the Merck deal, which included Insmed's biosimilar assets. Biosimilars are copies of biotech-based drugs. There is currently no approval process in place in the U.S., though Congress is debating several bills on the issue.

Insmed recorded a pretax gain of $127.8 million in the quarter from sale of assets.

The company, meanwhile, continues developing the muscular dystrophy treatment candidate Iplex.

Shares of Insmed fell 10 cents, or 7.3 percent, to $1.28 in afternoon trading. The stock has traded between 32 cents and $1.52 over the past 52 weeks.

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