Amgen Inc. on Tuesday announced first-quarter earnings pershare of 43 cents, up 65 percent from the 26 cents per sharefigure of the 1991 quarter.

The company had net income of $63.2 million on revenues of$220.2 million, compared with first-quarter 1991 profits of$36.9 million on revenues of $139.5 million.

Montgomery Securities analyst Brandon Fradd said that he hadestimated EPS of 43 cents, although both revenues andexpenses were lighter than he expected. Both Fradd and SmithBarney analyst Denise Gilbert estimate the company will earn$2 per share for 1992.

Shares of the Thousand Oaks, Calif., company (NASDAQ:AMGN)rose $2.88 to $57.38 in anticipation of the numbers, whichwere released after the market closed.

Sales of Epogen erythropoietin, the company's red blood cellstimulator, were $111.1 million, compared with fourth-quartersales of $116.3 million. Sales of Neupogen granulocyte colonystimulating factor were $100.2 million, compared with fourth-quarter sales of $86.8 million.

The company attributed the drop in Epogen sales to awholesale purchase of the drug at the end of the fourthquarter.

Amgen said that on a dollar basis, Neupogen accounted formore than 90 percent of the U.S. market compared withImmunex Corp.'s Leukine GM-CSF, up from 85 percent at year-end.

Amgen finished the quarter with a cash balance of $461.9million, an increase of $84.1 million since the beginning of theyear. -- KB

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