Amgen Inc., biotechnology's highest-valued company, onTuesday turned in a second-quarter performance that fairlywell hit analysts' forecast for sharp gains in revenues andprofits.

The company earned $71.6 million for the quarter ended June30, vs. a $48.4 million loss for the comparable period last year,when the company took a pre-tax charge of $129.million tosettle an arbitration award. Without the award, Amgen wouldhave posted a $40.1 million profit for last year's secondquarter. On a per-share basis, the company earned 49 cents inthe recent second quarter, vs. a 38-cent loss in 1991. Theconsensus among analysts was for about 46 cents a share.

"It's a great quarter for a bunch of reasons," said FranklinBerger, an analyst with Labe & Associates, a division ofJosephthal, Lyon & Ross in New York. Product sales, whichjumped 84 percent to $250.3 million from a year ago, were up18 percent for the previous quarter, he said. Berger said thatNeupogen, which is used as an adjunct to chemotherapy forcancer treatment, accounted for about half of the quarter'ssales and gained an estimated 27 percent from the priorquarter.

The showing will enable Amgen to step up research anddevelopment spending, including the acquisition and licensingof new technologies, said Gordon Binder, the company'schairman and chief executive officer. R&D spending increased44 percent to $44 million during the second quarter.

Icos Corp. (NASDAQ:ICOS) ramped up research anddevelopment spending by 70 percent to $2.6 million in thesecond quarter, which helped take it to a 70 percent deeperloss of $2.6 million. The company reported having $73.3 millionin cash and equivalents as of June 30 -- one of the industry'sbiggest nest eggs.

"We continued on track with our plans to develop a number ofproduct candidates to treat chronic inflammatory diseases,"said George Rathmann, Icos' chairman and chief executiveofficer.

Cytogen Corp. (NASDAQ:CYTO) reported Tuesday that it reducedits second-quarter loss 30 percent to $3.5 million, or 21 cents ashare, helped by a tripling in revenues to $3.6 million. Therevenue rise was attributed to $2.5 million in sales of researchservices, including $1.8 million generated by its CytoRadresearch and development spinoff (NASDAQ:CYTDZ).

Cytogen anticipates FDA approval soon of its OncoScint cancer-imaging products. It reported cash and equivalents of $48.7million as of June 27.

Genentech Inc. (NYSE:GNE) attributed a 70 percent decline insecond-quarter profits to $3.4 million, or 3 cents a share, tostepped-up spending on research and development. R&D costsrose 39 percent during the quarter to $73.3 million. Productsales dipped 2 percent to $95.8 million for the quarter, withthe absence of any bulk sales of Activase to Genentech'slicensees in Japan. Overall revenues rose 5 percent to $136million.

Cytel Corp. (NASDAQ:CYTL) reported that its second-quarterloss more than doubled to $3.6 million, or 28 cents a share, as itincreased research and development spending by 149 percent.Cytel said it had current assets of $44.8 million as of June 30.

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