Elan in line for record growth

IRISH pharmaceutical company Elan has said that it remains on course to achieve record revenue growth and EBITDA of more than $150 million (€116m) in 2010, despite posting a $215m (€167) net loss for the first six months of the year.

That loss, however, was skewed by a once-off exceptional cost of $206.3m which covered the recent settlement in the US of a long-running legal case over sales and marketing violations regarding an epilepsy treatment, Zonegran, which Elan disposed of six years ago.

Excluding that exceptional item, Elan actually recorded a first half net loss of $6.5m; significantly down from the $113.3m loss generated in the same period last year. Total first half revenue was up, year-on-year, from $526m to $579.4m.

That revenue growth was again boosted by sales of Tysabri — the multiple sclerosis drug Elan co-owns with US pharmaceutical company, Biogen Idec — which rose by 22%, on a like-for-like basis.

Revenue in the company’s core bioneurology division grew by 15% during the half, while those at EDT — Elan’s soon-to-be hived off Athlone-based drug delivery business — declined by 4% year-on-year.

Elan’s chief executive, Kelly Martin, said that the results, particularly the second quarter showing, “demonstrate continued progress across our major areas of focus“.

However, one of Elan’s shareholders (Danish investor Ib Sonderby, who owns two million shares in the company) has formally complained to the company and promised to “restore good governance” through a board shake-up.