Deena Beesley

(Reuters) – Amgen Inc (NASDAQ) reported Tuesday a 4 percent increase in revenue for the third quarter. This was due to the COVID-19 impact on drug prescriptions. But, prices of some of its medicines remain high because of competition at lower costs.

Refinitiv compiled that the adjusted earnings of the biotech company for the quarter were $4.69 per shares, which was higher than the forecasted $4.27 by Wall Street analysts.

Due to the $400 million in licensing expenses resulting from Amgen’s partnership with Japan’s Kyowa Kyin Co Ltd, net earnings per share dropped 3% to 3.31

The quarter’s revenue was $6.7 billion. This is up 4 percent from $6.4 billion last year and consistent with analysts expectations.

Amgen stated that its quarter-end sales increased by 8.8% but net selling price fell to 7% because of competition. This included cheaper generics as well as biosimilars.

Enbrel sales decreased by 33% year-over-year to $1.29 Billion. Lumakras sales, an older cancer drug, reached $36million for the quarter. This was higher than analyst estimates of $28million.

Amgen increased its adjusted earnings per share estimate to $16.50- $17.10, up from $16.00 to $17.00, and lowered its top revenue projection to $26.2billion from $26.6 billion.