Celgene looks to double its sales by 2017 on wave of cancer drug growth

Celgene ($CELG) figures it will end 2014 with $7.4 billion in net sales, adding about $1 billion to its $6.4 billion total for 2013. That's a nice 15% increase.

But the real surge starts after that, the company's new forecast shows. By 2017, the Summit, NJ-based company figures it will be reporting net sales of $13 billion to $14 billion--more than twice its 2013 total.

It's no big surprise to see the company's multiple myeloma treatment Revlimid as the top producer behind those numbers. It's Celgene's superstar drug, with 2013 sales of $4.3 billion, according to Celgene's preliminary results. That's an increase of 14%.

By 2017, Celgene is looking for Revlimid to hit $7 billion, with the help of a new indication for first-line treatment of myeloma. (Its hopes for an indication in chronic lymphocytic leukemia hit a big snag earlier this year when the FDA stopped a trial for safety reasons.)

But the company's newer drugs are also expected to step up, and quickly. Pomalyst, for instance, its recently approved, next-generation treatment for myeloma. Pomalyst is approved for third-line treatment, but the company aims to move that approval forward to earlier stages of the disease. Despite head-to-head competition with Onyx Pharmaceuticals' ($ONXX) Kyprolis, Celgene is looking for $1.5 billion from Pomalyst by 2017, up from $1 billion under a previous forecast.

- read the release from Celgene

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