| Icos
Shares Down 16 Percent After Loss Projections
Increase
August 06, 2003
Bothell-based Icos Corp. said
it doesn't expect to reach profitability for
at least a couple of years, as it plans to spend
big on a massive advertising campaign for Cialis,
the company's entrant into the erectile
dysfunction treatment arena dominated presently
by Viagra.
The news pulled Icos' shares down
by $6.25 to close Wednesday at $33.24. The share
reached a low of $31.92 for the day as 103 million
shares traded, compared to the daily average
of about 1.4 million.
Cialis
was developed by
Lilly Icos LLC, a joint venture between
Icos and Eli Lilly & Co. The treatment has
been selling in several markets outside the
United States since the early part of the year,
but still awaits approval from the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration for marketing domestically.
Icos reported late Tuesday that
second-quarter sales of Cialis reached $21.9
million in Europe, considerably lower than many
analysts had expected. Paul Latta, an analyst
with McAdams Wright Ragen Inc. in Seattle, said
his projected Cialis sales in the second quarter
were $34 million.
Sales during the portion of the
first quarter when the drug was approved --
not until February in Europe -- reached $16.6
million.
Sales in the United States aren't
likely to be meaningful in 2003, as the company
doesn't expect an FDA decision until late in
the second half, Latta said.
The company noted that a it expects
losses in 2004 including nonrecurring items
to reach above $3 per share, compared to the
consensus estimate for 2004 prior to the announcement
of a loss of $1.23 per share. The company revised
its expectation for 2003 to a net loss of between
$2.10 to $2.25 per share from an earlier estimate
of $2.54 to $2.70. The lower loss projection
is mainly due to a nonrecurring benefit of $21.3
million from a payment of fees by Biogen Inc.
during the second quarter.
© 2003 American City Business Journals
Inc.
source:-http://seattle.bizjournals.com
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