Elan, the Irish pharmaceutical company, today reported an operating profit of $32.7m for the first quarter of 2010, compared with a $54.8m loss in the same period last year. It posted a net loss of $2m after taxes.

Total revenue for the first quarter of 2010 increased by 27% to $310.5m from $245.1m for the same period in 2009. In the first quarter, revenue from the BioNeurology (formerly referred to as Biopharmaceuticals) business grew by 26% while revenue from the Elan Drug Technologies (EDT) business increased by 28% compared to the first quarter of 2009.

The increase in revenue from the BioNeurology business was driven by the growth of ms drug Tysabri. Elan's recorded sales of the drug increased 25% to $198.8m for the first quarter of 2010, from $158.7m for the first quarter of 2009, consistent with the 28% growth in  global in-market net sales of Tysabri to $291.9m in the first quarter of 2010 from $227.5m in the first quarter of 2009.

Elan CEO Kelly Martin commented: "The first quarter results demonstrate continued progress for the Company. Both the BioNeurology and EDT businesses are profitable at the operating level and the respective pipelines continue to mature. At the corporate level, the recently announced exploration of a possible separation of EDT will allow us to accurately assess the opportunity and impact on shareholder value."

Results detail

Elan (Sell, Closing Price $7.56); Q110 First Glance - ahead on one-off revenue boosters: Goodbody analyst, Ian Hunter, commented  - -"The better than forecast performance was based on revenue strength from the non-Tysabri side of the business, with costs in line with expectations. Elan booked $198.8m in Tysabri revenue (10% below the $221m expected). However, EDT performed strongly with revenue up 25% qoq to $76.4m, well ahead of our $61.2m forecast. This was, however, primarily due to Ampyra sales ($18.9m), which reflect the shipment of goods to Acorda for product launch, rather than actual sales. The remaining hospital drugs generated $35.3mm in revenue, with Azactam particularly strong in the last quarter that Elan will distributed the drug.

Biogen Idec reported a disappointing set of Tysabri numbers yesterday. The anticipated pull back in patient adds over the quarter was more marked than expected, dipping to 140 per week (we had 161 pencilled in) from 175 in Q409 and 171 in Q109. At the end of the quarter, there were 49,700 commercial patients on the drug versus our expectation of 50,270 (1% behind). More marked, however, was the under shoot in worldwide revenue, which came in 10% behind forecast at $292m.

On Bapi, J&J yesterday confirmed that it has integrated various sub-studies and biomarker data into the Bapi Phase III trials and that the two 18-month US-based studies should now complete in mid-2012. We presume that data will not, therefore, be available until late 2012 or early 2013. Given the disappointing Tysabri Q110 data and the fact that the Q110 out-performance was only based on once-off positives (Ampyra stocking and a push on Azactam sales at the end of its distribution agreement), at first glance, the risk to numbers is to the down side."