Product revenue and earnings continued to swell at Amgen Inc., prompting the company to increase its year-end guidance as part of its second-quarter financial report.

For the period ended June 30, the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based firm recorded net income of $653 million on an adjusted basis, a 58 percent jump over $412 million in net income during last year's second quarter. Amgen's adjusted earnings per share reached 49 cents, compared to 38 cents per share a year ago. The figure also bettered the Wall Street consensus estimate of 46 cents per share.

As a result, Amgen raised its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to range between $1.85 and $1.95, up from $1.80 and $1.90.

"The second quarter of 2003 was the fifth straight quarter the company beat consensus estimates by a few pennies and guided up product sales by a significant amount," Eric Schmidt, analyst with SG Cowen Securities Corp. in New York, wrote in a research note. "Amgen has the good fortune of having three highly visible and growing blockbuster products on the market, each of which appears to have best in class' attributes."

The adjusted and non-adjusted EPS figures were based on about 1.3 billion diluted shares outstanding at the end of the quarter. At the end of the second quarter, Amgen reported $5 billion in cash and marketable securities.

Not even the impact of a beneficial foreign exchange on Amgen's numbers could dampen the spirit of the investment community.

"We estimate the bottom-line EPS impact of a positive foreign exchange effect to be approximately 2 cents," Michael King, with Bank of America Securities in New York, wrote in his note. "Without this effect, Amgen's adjusted EPS would still have beaten The Street consensus estimate by a penny."

The company reported revenue of $2 billion in the quarter, in large part due to a 72 percent increase in product sales. Amgen recorded $1.9 billion in product sales, and upped its year-end sales forecast to range between $7.5 billion and $8 billion.

The soaring sales resulted from the company's stable of stalwart drugs.

Worldwide sales of its anemia products, Epogen (epoetin alfa) and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), totaled $611 million and $348 million, respectively. Amgen said it expects to sell between $3.7 billion and $3.9 billion of both drugs over the course of the year, an increase in expectations by $300 million on both ends of the range.

Worldwide sales of its chemotherapy-related infection products, Neupogen (filgrastim) and Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), totaled $331 million and $304 million, respectively. Amgen said it expects to sell between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion of both drugs for the full year, a $100 million increase from previous predictions.

"The company's two flagship products, Epogen and Neupogen, each sell more than $1 billion annually, and we believe franchise-extending, second-generation versions should secure a baseline of double-digit EPS growth for years to come," Dennis Harp, with Deutsche Bank in New York, wrote in his research note. He added that sales from Amgen's anemia and chemotherapy infection franchises far exceeded estimates, a sentiment also echoed by Schmidt, King and William Tanner, an analyst at Leerink Swann & Co. in Boston.

Sales of Enbrel (etanercept) climbed to $304 million, up from $192 million recorded in the same period last year by Immunex Corp. Amgen is looking toward added indications for the product - already approved for rheumatoid arthritis and three other arthritic indications. Last month the drug received FDA panel backing to expand its label to include ankylosing spondylitis, or arthritis of the spine. Earlier this month, Amgen applied for FDA approval of the TNF blocker as a treatment for psoriasis. (See BioWorld Today, July 9, 2003, and June 25, 2003.)

Amgen, which gained rights to Enbrel through its acquisition of Seattle-based Immunex, forecasted 2003 Enbrel sales to range between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. Schmidt predicted 2007 sales to exceed $3 billion. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 18, 2001.)

Beyond Enbrel, Amgen is looking to begin the regulatory process for cinacalcet HCL. The company said it expects a third-quarter filing for FDA approval of the small molecule for secondary hyperparathyroidism after completing all three Phase III trials of the product.

Phase III results of another late-stage product, Palifermin (keratinocyte growth factor) for oral mucositis, were reported last month at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. Amgen expects to file for FDA approval next year.

Its stock (NASDAQ:AMGN) gained 79 cents Wednesday to close at $69.72.