Shares of Costa Mesa-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International jumped more than 10% Friday after an analyst raised revenue expectations on the drug maker in the wake of an acquisition earlier this week.
Richard Watson of William Blair & Co. raised his 2006 sales expectations for the drug maker by $36 million to $912 million, following Valeant’s $136 million plan to buy the U.S. and Canadian rights for hepatitis C drug Infergen from Brisbane-based InterMune Inc. The revised revenue would be a 14% gain in revenue versus this year.
Watson didn’t change his profit outlook for the company next year.
“We believe Infergen may prove an important product for Valeant over the next few years assuming it can win an increasing share of the nonresponder (hepatitis C) market through use in combination with ribavirin (and potentially Viramidine) in patients who have failed previous therapy,” Watson said in a report.
Ribavirin is part of Valeant’s drug portfolio while Viramidine is undergoing clinical trials.
Shares of Valeant were up $1.65 to $18.10 in afternoon trading Friday.
