A lot’s been going on with specialty drugmaker Horizon Pharma — so much that it’s almost a different company from what it was 12 months ago. Last July, Horizon (HZNP) learned that Express Scripts (ESRX) and CVS ‘ (CVS) Caremark were knocking its flagship drugs Vimovo and Duexis off their preferred-formulary lists on the grounds that both drugs, which combine treatments for arthritis pain with other medicines protecting against the painkillers’
Specialty drugmaker Horizon Pharma (HZNP) rose as much as 3.75 early Friday after Leerink launched coverage with an outperform rating. Analyst Jason Gerberry wrote that Horizon’s legacy brands — the arthritis medicines Vimovo and Duexis — have proved surprisingly resilient despite being removed from the preferred formularies of Express Scripts (ESRX) and CVS Health (CVS) this year. The cash flow from those brands should help the company build out
Top-rated specialty drug maker Horizon Pharma (HZNP) beat Q1 sales estimates and settled a patent suit Friday, but its stock seesawed. Horizon’s earnings excluding one-time items rose 62% over the year-earlier quarter to 21 cents a share, in line with analyst consensus, according to Thomson Reuters. Sales jumped 118% to $113.1 million, about $9 million above the Street’s average estimate. Horizon also boosted its guidance to reflect the