The stock rose, as did shares of Biogen, which is developing a separate treatment. Lilly said its experimental drug slowed the cognitive decline of early-stage patients.
Dreamstime
Covid-19 lockdowns kept many scientists from their labs, and the interruption showed in the mid-2020 results of
Illumina, the supplier of technology for reading the genetic code.
Illumina’s business has now bounced back, its chief executive, Francis deSouza, told an online audience at J.P. Morgan’s annual health-care conference on Monday. He said that December 2020 quarter revenue was $950 million, or roughly flat with the quarter a year ago. Analysts had expected less than $880 million. Earnings for the December quarter were $1.20 a share, adjusted for certain one-time charges, compared with expectations for $1.05 a share.
Revenue should grow by 17% to 20% in 2021, deSouza said, and produce 2021 year earnings between $5.10 and $5.35 a share (also adjusting away expected noncash charges).
Instead of taking his listeners through a leisurely survey of the outlook for
Sarepta Therapeutics, CEO Doug Ingram dove into a Monday talk for investors with a review of what went wrong in Sarepta’s trial of its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The study’s failure to show a statistically significant strength improvement in children who were treated caused Sarepta stock (ticker: SRPT) to drop by half on Friday.
“I was not merely disappointed.” Ingram told his audience at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. “I was, to be frank, utterly gobsmacked.” Analysis soon convinced Ingram and his colleagues that the study’s failure to prove a benefit resulted from bad luck, not the treatment’s failure.