Ipsen records year-on-year sales increase in first quarter

Ipsen has seen an improved sales performance in the first quarter of 2011, despite the competitive nature of the current healthcare market.

The company generated 285.8 million euros (257.96 million pounds) in consolidated group sales during the period, up by 6.1 percent year on year, with strong growth noted outside the major western European nations.

Ipsen credited the strength of these results to the robust performance of its specialty care division in particular, with neurology and oncology product sales both seeing double-digit growth.

Marc de Garidel, chairman and chief executive officer of Ipsen, also noted that the company is moving towards the completion of its corporate strategic review, which will be made public in June 2011.

He added: "Ipsen's strong first-quarter performance illustrates the pertinence of the company's positioning, with differentiated specialty drugs providing patients and physicians with high added-value therapeutic solutions."

Last month, the company announced a new collaboration with Active Biotech to jointly develop TASQ, an investigational treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.