While Biogen Idec is locked in a race with especially Novo Nordisk in the development of new drugs for treating the blood disease Haemofilia, it is a very different disease area that generates growth for the company – in Denmark as well.

The company has three products on the Danish market for the treatment of multiple sclerosis; Fampyra, Avonex, and - not least - blockbuster Tysabri, on which the company spent DKK 17.91 billion (USD 3.11 billion) to acquire the complete rights in February this year.

A look at the financial statement for 2012, however, reveals that Avonex is the main reason for turnover rising from DKK 119.21 million (USD 20.7 million) in 2011 to DKK 236.17 million (USD 41 million) in 2012 in the Danish subsidiary.

Bottom line dropping

“The increase in turnover is primarily due to the company becoming a distributor of Avonex in 2012,” Biogen Idec writes in the statement for its Danish subsidiary.

In the latest available statement from the parent company it is also evident that this drug is the main contributor to the top line, as it sold for USD 2.7 billion in 2011, accounting for just over half of total, global sales in the company – Tysabri sold for USD 1.1 billion.

While the top line is growing in Denmark, operating profits are in decline. EBIT has gone from DKK 12.90 million (USD 2.24 million) in 2011 to DKK 9.45 million (USD 1.64 million) in 2012. The bottom line is also dropping – from DKK 8.65 million (USD 1.5 million) to DKK 5.92 million (USD 1 million).

On a whole, the impressive growth rates in recent years have not materialized in the financial numbers. Because, although turnover has gone from DKK 31.93 million (USD 5.54 million) in 2009 to the previously mentioned DKK 236.17 million in 2012, the bottom line has dropped from DKK 6.97 million (USD 1.21 million) to the DKK 5.92 million in the same period.

The Danish subsidiary notes in the statement that they expect “a positive sales development in 2013”.

- translated by Martin Havtorn Petersen