MedImmune First-Quarter Profit, Sales Rise

MedImmune on Thursday said first-quarter earnings rose, surpassing Wall Street expectations, on higher sales of its flagship respiratory drug Synagis and improved gross margins. Net income rose to $114 million, or 45 cents a share, from $111 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had on average expected 36 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue rose to $510 million from $489 million, led by a 12 percent increase in sales of Synagis, which is used to treat a childhood respiratory infection. Sales of Synagis rose to $472 million.

Reuters (http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8252779)