By Staff Report Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

Amgen reported higher-than-expected earnings on Oct. 23 and raised its outlook for the rest of the year.

Amgen’s earnings are regionally significant because the Thousand Oaks biotech firm is Ventura County’s largest private sector employer. The company turned in adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.67 a share, topping the Wall Street estimate of $1.47 by a full 20 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose 10 percent to $4.3 billion.

Moreover, the company raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to $6.50 to $6.60 per share and revenue of $17.2 billion to $17.3 billion, as compared to an earlier estimate of $6.20 to $6.35 per share and revenue of $16.9 billion to $17.2 billion.

Amgen’s big seller was again Enbrel, an arthritis drug whose sales rose 17 percent to slightly more than $1 billion. Sales of Xgeva, a drug that prevents cancer-related bone fractures, were small at $201 million but grew at a 12 percent clip.

Prolia, Amgen’s osteoporosis offering, edged down 8 percent to $110 million in sales, a problem that Amgen attributed to distributor problems. Amgen’s former blockbuster Epogen got a small sales boost while Aranesp continued its long, slow decline in sales. The two red-blood-cell boosters still contributed about $1 billion to Amgen’s top line.

Earnings were released after the markets closed. Amgen shares ended the day down a half a percent at $87.32.