7/16
制药向来是获利颇丰的行业，但是如果业绩不佳怎么办呢？Genzyme Corp(代號:GENZ) 就不必担心这些问题。尽管近期有业绩问题连连，但是公司多元化产品组合却以20%的稳健涨势运行良好。Genzyme的产品组合涉及生物制药板块的较大方面，其产品远销海外，包括欧洲、日本和南美，海外市场为其提供了巨大的销售空间。但是你可能并不常见Genzyme的产品，因为公司的产品通常是标以“罕用药品”出现的，罕用药品仅仅使用于少数人群，美国的消费人群不到200,000，但是Genzyme已经足够从中获利了。
Cerezyme是Genzyme生产罕用药品的一种，每年的成本为25万美元，长期以来Cerezyme一直是公司销售额的领头羊，但是自公司2000 年进行多元化改进之后，Cerezyme在总销售额中的占有率由70%降至30% 。公司一直专注于自主开发酶制剂的代用品，但是第三方业务生产也开始成为公司的着力点，约有一半以上的产品是由公司收购的。
自2000年以来，Genzyme收购了一系列药物生产商，价格由1000万美元到10亿美元不等，Mozabil就是公司收购AnorMed获得的业务。同时，公司开始考虑转型，即由外向型药物收购转向内部合作开发创新。公司执行副总裁Peter Wirth表示，“从资产角度考虑，这种战略更加有效，而且我们也更加倾向于自主创新产品。”
6月24日，公司与胆固醇药物生产商mipomersen达成一项授权协议，透过这份协议，Genzyme独家取得mipomersen全球权利，这是 Isia所发现的降血脂药物，目前进袭第三阶段实验。今年下半年将完成mipomersen实验病人招募，治疗家族性高胆固醇血症。投资者非常看好这项交易，股价当天大涨并跑赢大市。
公司的Cerezyme即将使用于帕金森综合症，尽管Shire Pharmaceuticals(代號:SHPGY)以及Protalix(代號:PLX) 也在开发类似业务，但是分析师认为两者并不能对公司此类业务构成威胁。分析师认为原因有二：其一，两者很难找到用药的病人进行临床试验，因为此类病人并不多，而且即便是，他们也已经在使用Cerezyme了。其二，两者没有可以超越Cerezyme的医疗水平，Cerezyme的确是行业中的佼佼者。
公司其它药物的业绩增速已经赶超Cerezyme，一季度Cerezyme销售额上涨15%至3.04亿美元。Myozyme就是其中之一，主要用于 Pompe疾病的治疗，Myozyme一季度销售额上涨了78%至6730万美元，分析师预计二季度销售额将继续上涨，从而满足美国不断上升的市场需求。
其它两支前景看好的药物还有Campath和Synvisc-One，分别用于治疗骨髓癌和骨关节炎。分析师预计Myozyme、Campath和Synvisc-One将取代Cerezyme成为未来公司额业绩支柱。
公司一季度利润低于华尔街预期，主要是由于一次性的投资减记。既便如此，每股收益仍然增长了22%至0.95美元，营收上涨了25%至11亿美元。公司管理层降低08年业绩预测至3.90美元。Thomson Reuters estimate分析师预期08年每股收益为3.9美元，同比上涨14%；09年利润预期上涨20%，2010年上涨17% 。
Investor's Business Daily
Drug Maker Grows With Diverse Portfolio Of 'Orphan' Products
Tuesday July 15, 5:53 pm ET
Marilyn Alva Blockbuster drugs can be wonderful things, but what happens when they fizzle?
Biotech firm Genzyme (NasdaqGS:GENZ - News) doesn't worry too much about that. It would rather have a stable of singles hitters than one home run.
Despite a couple of trouble spots lately, its diversified portfolio is doing well. Most of the names in it are growing at a solid double-digit pace.
Its product portfolio is one of the broadest in the biotech sector, and its products reach many markets overseas, including Europe, Japan and South America. About half of the Cambridge, Mass., firm's sales come from outside the U.S.
You might not have heard of most of its products, since Genzyme addresses rare or "orphan" diseases in particular. Orphan drugs treat small patient populations, which in the U.S. is defined as less than 200,000.
Don't cry for orphans too much. Genzyme is able to command premium prices for them.
Pricey Drugs
Cerezyme, the closest the company gets to a blockbuster, costs about $250,000 a year. The injectable drug treats Gaucher's disease, a rare condition that inhibits the body's ability to process fat.
Cerezyme has long been Genzyme's sales leader. But as Genzyme set out to diversify in 2000, the drug went from 70% of total sales to less than 30% now.
Genzyme is best known for internally developed enzyme-replacement therapies, such as Cerezyme.
But it's also well-regarded for commercializing third-party compounds. About half of its products have come from acquisitions.
Since 2000, it has acquired about a dozen drug companies at prices ranging from $10 million to $1 billion.
One of those products is Mozabil, which came by way of the 2006 purchase of AnorMed. Genzyme expects to launch the stem-cell transplant drug next year.
But Genzyme is shifting its drug-building strategy from outright buys to partnerships with "innovators," says Peter Wirth, executive vice president of corporate development.
"It's more efficient from a capital standpoint, and we really like investing with innovators," he said. "They know a lot about these compounds they've discovered, and they are committed to getting them on the market."
On June 24, Genzyme closed a deal to license a cholesterol-drug candidate, mipomersen, from its developer Isis Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGM:ISIS - News). The drug targets patients with ultrahigh cholesterol.
"Investors liked the deal," said analyst Geoff Porges of Sanford C. Bernstein. "The stock definitely has outperformed since the deal closed."
Genzyme also is partnering with Ceregene on a gene therapy for Parkinson's disease. The neuro-protective agent, which doesn't have a name yet, showed positive results on patients in phase two clinical trials.
Though Genzyme has had the Gaucher's disease field virtually to itself since the early 1990s, that might change. Shire Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS:SHPGY - News) and the Israeli drug firm Protalix (AMEX:PLX - News) are developing like-kind drugs.
But analyst Porges says the two rival drugs aren't as great a threat as one might think.
"Their development is going slowly," he said. One reason: It's tough to find Gaucher's patients for clinical trials. There aren't too many of them, and most are already on Cerezyme.
He doesn't expect the drugs to launch before 2011 or 2012.
Genzyme's Wirth says the two drug candidates "don't claim any therapeutic advantage over Cerezyme, which is sort of the gold standard in this area."
"I can't think of a single instance where people who are well controlled on a drug are taken off that drug and put on a new drug that has no advantages," he said.
Other Genzyme drugs are growing faster than Cerezyme, which still saw sales rise 15% in the first quarter from the year-earlier period, to $304 million.
One such drug is the relatively new Myozyme, which treats Pompe's disease, a rare muscle disorder. Myozyme sales jumped 78% in the first quarter from a year ago, albeit to only $67.3 million. It's the fastest grower in Genzyme's arsenal.
Myozyme sales would likely be higher if a second manufacturing plant were running to help meet demand in the U.S. But the FDA won't green-light a Boston plant until changes are made. Genzyme intends to submit a new plan.
Two other promising drugs face regulatory hurdles, says Porges. One is Campath, a bone-marrow cancer drug Genzyme is testing for severe forms of multiple sclerosis. The other is Synvisc-One, a single-shot treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee.
Porges says Myozyme, Campath and Synvisc-One offer "the biggest upside" for Genzyme. The latter two also address medical areas that aren't so rare.
Mipomersen also faces a regulatory hurdle. In line with its tougher stance on cholesterol drugs, the FDA recently requested outcome studies.
Analyst Maged Shenouda of UBS Securities expects Genzyme to file for approval in the second half of 2010.
Other potential growth drivers cited by analysts include Renvela, for early stages of chronic kidney disease, and expanded use of Clolar, the acute myeloid leukemia drug, in previously untreated older adults.
Complex Company
With so many moving parts, Genzyme isn't a simple company. Management tries to keep tabs on all the disparate niche products by herding them into six groups: therapeutics, renal, oncology, transplants, genetics and biosurgery.
The company is "complex and diverse," Shenouda says. But, he adds, it's consistent where it counts: in earnings performance. "It has the ability to consistently meet or beat expectations," he said.
First-quarter earnings came in lower than Wall Street's estimate, however, due to a one-time write-off on an investment. Even so, profit rose 22% from the earlier year to 95 cents a share. Revenue climbed 25% to $1.1 billion.
Because of the delayed Myozyme plant in Boston, management lowered its profit guidance for the full year to about $3.90 a share, compared with an earlier figure of $4.00.
At $3.94 per share for 2008, as analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate, earnings would be up 14% from 2007. Analysts see earnings growth of 20% in 2009 and 17% in 2010. The company reports second-quarter results on July 23.
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