Acorda posts 4Q profit on $133M tax benefit

Acorda Therapeutics posts 4th-quarter profit after recording $133M tax gain; Ampyra sales grow

ARDSLEY, N.Y. (AP) -- Acorda Therapeutics Inc. said Wednesday that its net income surged in the fourth quarter because of a one-time tax benefit worth $132.7 million.

Including the tax benefit net income totaled $133 million, or $3.27 per share. A year ago it made $12.7 million, or 32 cents per share. Excluding the tax gain, adjusted income was 24 cents per share. Revenue rose 12 percent, to $81.5 million.

Analysts expected adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share and $79.3 million in revenue, according to FactSet.

Product sales rose 9 percent to $75.4 million. Most of the company's revenue comes from Ampyra, a drug used to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis. Ampyra sales rose 27 percent to $72.7 million during the fourth quarter. Biogen Idec Inc. markets the drug as Fampyra in other countries and makes royalty payments to Acorda.

Acorda also sells a spasticity drug called Zanaflex and gets revenue from the sale of a generic version made by Actavis Inc.

In 2012 Acorda's net income climbed to $155 million, or $3.84 per share, from $30.6 million, or 76 cents per share. Revenue rose 5 percent, to $305.8 million. Ampyra sales grew 26 percent to $266.1 million.

The company expects to report $285 million to $315 million in sales of Ampyra this year and about $25 million from Zanaflex and from Fampyra royalty payments. Acorda is also studying Ampyra as a treatment for cerebral palsy and for chronic neurological problems caused by strokes. Those problems include arm weakness and difficulty walking. It expects to report data from clinical trials during the second quarter.

In 2013 Acorda plans to file for marketing approval of a nasal spray version of Valium, or diazepam, a drug that is used to treat anxiety and seizures.

Shares of Acorda rose 43 cents to close at $29.96. Earlier the stock reached a 52-week high of $30.47.