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| Celgene CEO Bob Hugin--courtesy of Celgene. |
Celgene ($CELG) captured the center ring at the J.P. Morgan conference on its opening day Monday. Company CEO Bob Hugin boldly mapped out a 5-year plan to double sales and highlighted upbeat Phase III data on its psoriasis drug apremilast that he believes will set the stage for regulatory approval on both sides of the Atlantic.
Touting plans to grow sales of its blockbuster Revlimid, Hugin says that the company is advancing three new blockbuster programs that will help drive revenue to $12 billion a year by 2017. Hugin is looking for an FDA approval of its multiple myeloma drug pomalidomide (to be sold as Pomalyst) soon, with a filing for apremilast slated for the second half of this year. And Celgene expects to file Abraxane for pancreatic cancer later this year as well.
"The accomplishments of 2012 and our outlook for 2013 have positioned us with significant catalysts as we enter a new growth phase for Celgene in all three therapeutic areas of our business--hematology, oncology and inflammation and immunology," said Hugin in a statement. "The increased visibility we now have to many of those catalysts allows us to reaffirm our 2015 targets and give new targets out to 2017."
That assessment drew some rave reviews from analysts, who helped cheer on a rally for Celgene's stock.
"We believe Celgene is re-emerging as a clean, earnings-driven growth stock as Abraxane's potential in pancreatic cancer becomes more fully appreciated and Revlimid gets back on track with European regulators," Cowen's Eric Schmidt told MarketWatch. "We expect Celgene's stock multiple to expand as a result."
- here's the press release
- here's the report from MarketWatch