U.K. pharmaceutical firm Amersham reported first-quarter sales (end-March 31) of £381 million ($555 million U.S.), up from the $546 million reported in the same period a year ago. For the quarter, the figure represents 5% growth at constant exchange rates, with the Buckinghamshire-based company pegging underlying growth at 8%.
In the company’s contrast development division, Amersham Health, sales showed a 4% gain to $325 million, versus $322 million for the first quarter of 2001. The company reported that sales of its nuclear cardiology product, Myoview, continued to grow, and that x-ray and MRI product sales were impacted by $10 million of forward purchasing by customers last quarter in anticipation of price increases this quarter.
The company had overall growth of 8% in all geographical regions except Japan. Amersham expects this trend to continue, driven by Myoview sales, as well as those of its MRI contrast angiography agent Omniscan, and its coronary contrast product Visipaque. The firm also said that pricing pressure and a drop in the number of brachytherapy seeds used per prostate cancer procedure has challenged its EchoSeed market estimates.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersApril 29, 2002
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