By Frances Bishopp

Carried on the shoulders of its anti-clotting agent, ReoPro, Centocor Inc. has stepped into the winner's circle again, achieving its second profitable quarter in a row and keeping the company in an elite group of biotech companies with positive earnings.

Centocor's net income for first quarter 1997 was $3.3 million, or $0.05 a share, compared to a loss of $9.7 million or $0.16 a share, for the same period in 1996.

Product sales for the 1997 first quarter were $44.9 million, compared with product sales of $21.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

ReoPro sales to Centocor's marketing partner for the product, Eli Lilly, of Indianapolis, for the 1997 first quarter were $35.3 million, compared to $9.9 million for the same period in 1996.

Despite ReoPro end-user sales of $51.7 million for first quarter 1997, a 56-percent increase from the same period last year, when sales were $22.8 million, Centocor and Eli Lilly have lowered 1997 sales expectations for the product to $230 million to $250 million from the $259 million to $270 million range.

Bill Newbould, manager of investor relations at the Malvern, Pa., company, said a slower-than-expected sales rate for ReoPro from fourth quarter 1996 to first quarter of this year was the reason for the lowered guidance figures. Figures for ReoPro from fourth quarter 1996 were $50.8 million, compared to $51.7 million for first quarter 1997.

ReoPro is approved for preventing closure of arteries following angioplasty in high risk patients. In February 1997, Centocor filed two supplemental product license applications with the FDA for ReoPro use in all patients undergoing angioplasty and for use in stabilizing patients who are eligible for angioplasty and have unstable angina that doesn't respond well to conventional therapy.

Analyst David Crossen, of Montgomery Securities, in San Francisco, said he believes ReoPro will exceed $250 million in sales this year and the product's long-term promise is extraordinary. "Angioplasty is just the tip of the iceberg for this product," said Crossen, who also predicted Centocor could do $80 million next year in the U.S. on its second product, CenTNF for Crohn's disease. "There are 250,000 potential patients in the U.S., and with moderate to severe Crohn's disease, patients are quite desperate," Crossen said. "This is a remarkable treatment."

Centocor currently is conducting a Phase II study in patients with the severest form of Crohn's disease and data is expected by mid-1997. CenTNF also is being tested for rheumatoid arthritis.

Crossen views Centocor's and Lilly's lowered expectations for ReoPro sales to be a logistical adjustment for trends for this year. "This year they will not get the benefit from incremental label approvals," Crossen said.

Tim Wilson, an analyst with UBS Securities, of New York, said that although he continues to believe in the strong clinical utility demonstrated by ReoPro, sales of the drug appear to be losing steam.

Wilson lowered his long-term projections of ReoPro sales from $490 million in 1998 to $354 million. Wilson's earnings per share estimates are $1.17 in 1998, down from an earlier estimate of $1.44.

Centocor's research and development costs for first quarter 1997 were $14.3 million, compared to $12.5 million for the same period 1996.

Cash balances at March 31, 1997, were $163.8 million vs. $176.3 million at Dec. 31, 1996 -- a loss, according to the company, that reflected operational cash inflow of $1.1 million for first quarter 1997 and $13.6 million paid to CP (Centocor Partners) III to purchase ReoPro rights. CP III is a limited partnership created to fund the research and development of certain products and/or technology for Centocor.

Centocor's stock (NASDAQ:CNTO) closed Tuesday at 26.875, up $3.125. *