(Reuters) -Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc on Thursday comfortably beat analysts’ estimates for second-quarter profit and revenue, buoyed by the company completing delivery of its COVID-19 antibody cocktail doses to the U.S. government.
U.S. sales of REGEN-COV, the company’s antibody therapy authorized in the country for treating non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients, surged to $2.59 billion, accounting for more than half of the drugmaker’s total U.S. net product revenue.
The company recorded U.S. REGEN-COV sales of $262.2 million in the first quarter.
Regeneron said it completed its second agreement with the U.S. government and delivered 1.25 million doses of the therapy, adding that it does not expect to add net product sales of REGEN-COV in the United States in the third quarter.
The U.S. health regulator in June authorized a lower dose of the antibody cocktail that can be given via an injection, looking to address challenges stemming from administering the treatment intravenously.
Regeneron’s other businesses also did well. Sales of the company’s physician-administered eye treatment Eylea jumped 32.7% to $2.33 billion in the quarter.
Eylea sales took a hit last year as patients postponed visits to doctor’s office due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, sales of its eczema drug, Dupixent, rose 58.6% to $1.5 billion. Dupixent, sales of which are recorded by Sanofi, had been Regeneron’s main growth driver when the pandemic crimped demand for Eylea.
Overall sales rose to $5.14 billion from $1.95 billion a year earlier, while analysts’ on average had estimated $3.92 billion.
Net profit rose to $3.1 billion, or $27.97 per share, in the three months ended June 30, from $897.3 million, or $7.61 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned $25.8 per share, above estimates of $17.53, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Regeneron shares were up 3.3% in light premarket trading.
(Reporting by Dania Nadeem and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
