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Diluted earnings per share, meanwhile, were 54 cents, compared with 22 cents in the same period a year ago.
Net sales for the entire year were $820.5 million, compared with $615.1 million, an uptick of 33 percent. Net income in 2005 was $202.3 million, versus $143.3 million in 2004.
Diluted 2005 earnings per share, meanwhile, were $1.52 a share, compared with $1.08 in 2004.
Explaining the strong results, Endo President and Chief Executive Peter A. Lankau said in a Wednesday conference call with analysts, "2005 was a good year for our company from a financial and strategic point of view. We solidified our research and development efforts."
Sales results were driven by strong sales for Lidoderm, which increased 28 percent in fourth-quarter 2005, to $130.5 million, and 36 percent in 2005, to $419.4 million.
Lidoderm is a skin patch impregnated with lidocaine, a topical anesthetic. It is mainly used to treat postherpetic neuralgia, the often sharp skin and nerve-ending pain that afflicts shingles patients.
The company added 115 salespeople in early 2005, bringing its total nationwide to 370. Endo expects to add 150 to 200 new salespeople later this year, once it wins U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its Oxymorphone ER (extended release) and Oxymorphone IR (immediate release) tablets. The company expects that approval sometime this summer, Lankau said.
Sales of the company’s Percocet, an oral combination of oxycodone and acetaminophen, increased from $86.5 million in 2004 to $110 million in 2005. Generic versions of this warhorse Endo product, first approved in 1976, curbed sales growth in 2004 and 2005, Endo chief financial officer Jeffrey R. Black told analysts.
Lankau said that Endo would continue to sell Oxycodone tablets, a related product, even though Purdue Pharma LP won the latest round in a patent dispute. Oxycodone is a generic version of OxyContin. Purdue Pharma holds three patents for OxyContin and an appeals court sent back the patent lawsuit to a lower court.
Sales of Frova, used to treat migraine sufferers, reached $38.1 million in 2005, versus $11.4 million in 2004. Endo introduced the product in August 2004, and is currently testing it in women to gauge its effectiveness against migraines that occur during menstruation, said Dr. David A.H. Lee, Endo chief scientific officer.
The company expects to begin selling Synera, a topical skin patch used to lessen the pain from needle sticks, dermatology treatments such as wart and skin lesion removal, IV insertion and other vein punctures, during the second half of this year.
Looking ahead, Lankau predicted 2006 sales between $860 million and $880 million, with yearly earnings pegged at between $1.75 and $1.80 per share. He also forecast Lidoderm sales of between $530 million and $540 million. He noted that Endo will "continue to pursue acquisitions and products in the fields of pain management, neurology and supportive care for cancer patients."
To contact staff writer Sarah E. Moran, send an e-mail to smoran@dailylocal.com.
