Kyowa Hakko Kirin exceeds second quarter expectations

Kyowa Hakko Kirin has published its financial report for the second quarter of 2010, a period which saw the firm maintain its better-than-expected performance from the first quarter.

The Japanese healthcare firm’s consolidated net sales figure for the period rose by 4.5 per cent year-on-year to 203.4 billion yen (1.5 billion pounds), while pharmaceutical sales increased by 2.1 per cent.

Among the areas in which the firm saw growth was the performance of drugs such as Nesp, Espo and Regpara, while new products such as Permax and Fentos were also commenced in the last quarter.

The strong performance has led the company to increase its sales and operating profit forecasts for the full year.

Yuzuru Matsuda, president and chief executive officer of Kyowa Hakko Kirin, said: “Kyowa Hakko Kirin will continue to focus on growing sales of our core pharmaceutical and other products and promoting the rapid realisation of our strengths in antibody pharmaceuticals.”

Last month, the company announced that it will be working together with Biovail Laboratories International of Canada on the development of a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease.