Elan set to increase investment in Athlone

Elan's future in this area has been given a boost with news that the pharmaceutical company is to increase investment in its Athlone operation by approximately 20% this year. The company also expects Ampyra - a new multiple sclerosis drug which is to be manufactured in Athlone - to be one of its main income-generators during the course of 2010. On Friday last Elan outlined its financial results for 2009. Its annual losses fell by 56% in 2009, and the company said that this year it expects to show a full-year operating profit for the first time since 2001. Discussing the Athlone-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT) arm of the company, its chief financial officer Shane Cooke said that EDT was currently "in transition" with some products being phased out and others being developed. He said some proceeds of the $1.4 billion deal Elan completed with Johnson & Johnson last year were now being reinvested in the company. Among these investments will be an increase of approximately 20% in the company's spend on EDT this year. Mr Cooke said the additional money would be used for the development "of some proprietary products that are in the pipeline as well as some technology enhancements." Speaking to investors on Friday, CEO Kelly Martin said that, financially, 2009 had been "a solid year" for Elan. Mr Cooke commented, "For 2010, we expect to report operating profits - before other charges or gains - for the first time in several years, driven by our continued growth in revenue and reduced operating expenses." He said that revenues from the EDT business had declined by 9% during 2009 and that this was due to an increased number of generic drugs competing with some of its products. Mr Cooke expected EDT revenues to decline once again in 2010, but he said the Athlone operation "has the potential to grow strongly over the next 5 years." "(EDT) is a business in transition with a number of products in its portfolio nearing the end of their product life cycle. In the medium term, revenues and profits from these products are expected to be more than replaced by EDT's royalty and manufacturing revenues from the recently-launched (schizophrenia treatment) Invega Sustenna and (multiple sclerosis drug) Ampyra, which is expected to launched later this quarter." Ampyra, expected to be made commercially available in the US next month, is designed to improve walking ability in adults with multiple sclerosis. It will be manufactured at the EDT facility in Monksland and the company will receive significant royalties from its global sales. Mr Cooke said that in 2010 the EDT business would seek to expand its technology offering, advance the new products it is developing and expand its "manufacturing capacity utilisation."