Strong sales of Ceredase and Cerezyme enzyme-replacement therapymade up for depressed sales in other sectors as Genzyme Corp. onWednesday reported third-quarter revenues of $79.2 million, up 9percent from the comparable 1993 quarter.Shipments of Ceredase and Cerezyme totaled $45 million for thequarter, as company officials upped their projections of potentialsales of the treatment for Type I Gaucher's disease. Genzyme'spresident and CEO Henri Termeer on Wednesday said he often hasmentioned a sales ceiling of $200 million."We were too conservative, particularly driven by what we have seenoverseas," he said. Now Termeer is projecting a potential market of$250 million in annual sales.Cerezyme (recombinant glucocerebrosidase) eventually will replaceCeredase, the natural version of the enzyme, which is derived fromhuman placenta. But Termeer pointed out that a manufacturingfacility being built near Boston for Cerezyme production is expectedto be ready in "the latter part of 1995," several months behind earlierprojections.Termeer said Ceredase and Cerezyme sales are expected to be $170million this year and more than $200 million in 1995. Productcoming from the new plant for all of 1996 could boost productrevenue to $250 million in 1996, he said.Stockholders in the Cambridge, Mass., company were paid 34 centsper share in the third quarter, down from 52 cents per share in thethird quarter of 1993, but in line with most analysts' estimates.David Stone, a managing director at Cowen & Co.'s Boston office,told BioWorld that Cowen had estimated 38 cents per share butstipulated it could be 3 to 5 cents lower. "The primary interest isCeredase, and that's in line," he said.Stephen Push, Genzyme's vice president for corporatecommunications, told BioWorld sales of Ceredase and Cerezyme areimproving "primarily due to the fact that we're just beginning topenetrate the market in Europe. A lot of the seriously ill patients inthe U.S. are already on the product. We're just beginning to get intothe growth curve in Europe."Genzyme (NASDAQ:GENZ) got a recommendation for approval forCerezyme from the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products inMarch, and since has received marketing approvals in theNetherlands, France, Germany and the U.K.Forty-five percent of company's sales come from Ceredase andCerezyme, Push said. International sales represented 36 percent ofthe total, up from 33 and 30 percent the previous two quarters,respectively.Push said somewhat depressed sales in other areas _ diagnosticproducts and services, for example _ mainly were due to marketconditions, which he expects to be temporary.Genzyme spent about $13.2 million in the quarter on research anddevelopment, had $106 million in cash and marketable securities,and had some 26 million shares outstanding. n

-- Jim Shrine

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