Aliso Viejo drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International reported a third-quarter loss–the reverse of Wall Street’s expectations–and said it plans to sell off a hepatitis C drug.
Shares of the company sank nearly 17% on Thursday on a market value of about $1 billion.
The company blamed distribution delays in Mexico and soft U.S. sales for the poor results.
Valeant lost $12 million, versus a profit of $13.7 million a year earlier. Excluding charges and the drug Valeant plans to sell off, the company made $4.1 million.
Sales dropped 1% to $208.6 million.
Wall Street had expected a profit of $14.7 million, excluding one-time charges, on sales of $229.5 million.
The company plans to sell its Infergen drug for hepatitis C treatment. Valeant paid $113.5 million to the Bay area’s InterMune Inc. for the drug last year.
Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. originally developed Infergen.
“Infergen has shown important clinical benefits in treating refractory patients with hepatitis C,” Chief Executive Tim Tyson said. “But the market has been more challenging than we anticipated, and the product no longer is a strategic fit in our portfolio.”
