SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) – United Therapeutics Corp.’s first-quarter profit increased 43 percent after the Food and Drug Administration approved two of its blood pressure drugs.

The company said its profit climbed $18.9 million, or 32 cents per share, from $13.2 million, or 24 cents per share. Revenue jumped 62 percent, to $128.9 million from $79.7 million as sales of its drug Remodulin grew, and the FDA approved its drugs Tyvaso and Adcirca in mid-2009.

Analysts expected a profit of 29 cents per share and revenue of $122.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters. In afternoon trading, the stock rose $1.37, or 2.5 percent, to $56.03.

Sales of Remodulin rose 25 percent to $95.8 million, the company said. United Therapeutics also reported $24.9 million in revenue from Tyvaso, which received regulatory approval in late July and went on sale in September.

Sales of Adcirca totaled $5 million. Adcirca, or tadalafil, was approved in late May as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Tadalafil was originally approved in 2003 as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, and it is sold by Eli Lilly under the name Cialis. United Therapeutics licensed the drug from Lilly as a hypertension treatment.

United Therapeutics said its research and development costs climbed 66 percent to $34.9 million and selling, general, and administrative expenses rose 60 percent to $46.9 million.

Date: April 29, 2010
Source: Associated Press