MYLAN N.V. (Reuters) - Mylan NV (>> Mylan NV) on Tuesday reported slightly higher second quarter profit on increased demand for its generic medicines and specialty drugs, such as the EpiPen injector for severe allergic reactions, and expressed confidence in its long-range earnings forecast for 2018.
However, for the second successive quarter the company kept in place its 2016 full-year forecast for adjusted earnings of $4.85 to $5.15 per share, and its shares fell nearly 2 percent.
Mylan said it could not provide a forecast for net earnings due to an inability "to predict with reasonable certainty" some items, such as expenses related to its recently completed acquisition of Swedish drugmaker Meda for about $7 billion (5 billion pounds).
But Chief Executive Heather Bresch, on a conference call with analysts, said that she "could not be more confident in hitting the $6.00," the company's forecast for adjusted earnings in 2018.
Generic drug sales rose 4 percent to $2.14 billion in the quarter.
Prices of Mylan's generic drugs declined at a mid-single-digit percentage rate in the quarter, and Mylan management said it expects similar price erosion for the remainder of the year.
The third quarter will be its strongest of the year, the company said.
Mylan also said it remains pretty confident that it will be able to start selling a generic version of Teva's (>> Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited) big-selling multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone this year.
Mylan posted a net profit of $168.4 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with a profit of $167.8 million, or 32 cents a share, a year ago.
Excluding items, Mylan said it had adjusted earnings of $1.16 per share, exceeding analysts' average expectations by 3 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue for the quarter rose 8 percent to $2.56, just shy of Wall Street estimates of $2.57 billion.
Mylan shares slipped to $49.00 in extended trading from a Nasdaq close at $49.92.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Bill Berkrot
