Trimeris Shares Increase 13% as Sales of Fuzeon Rise in Europe, Brazil; Analysts Predict Profit as Early as 2006
Shares of Durham, N.C.-based pharmaceutical company Trimeris on Wednesday rose by 13% -- closing at $12.75 per share, up $1.43 -- after the company reported second-quarter losses more favorable than analysts' predictions, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Increases in sales of the company's antiretroviral drug Fuzeon in Europe and Brazil cut losses by 80% for the second quarter of 2005, and the company lost 14 cents per share, compared with a loss of 17 cents per share, as had been predicted by analysts at Thomson Financial. Sales of Fuzeon outside North America increased in the second quarter, accounting for more than half of the drug's $53.9 million in second-quarter sales. Analysts "believe things are beginning to look positive for Trimeris," Legg Mason analyst Edward Nash wrote in a research report following the release of the company's earnings report (Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, 7/21).
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