Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. on Wednesday raised its estimate of consolidated net profit for the year ending in December to ¥46 billion from the ¥40 billion forecast in February, as the spread of H1N1 strain of influenza has boosted sales of Tamiflu.
The sales of the flu medicine are expected to soar nearly eightfold from a year earlier to an all-time high of ¥64.9 billion amid a sharp increase in H1N1 flu patients, up from ¥53.0 billion in the previous estimate, according to the company.
As the company also expects higher-than-expected sales of other drugs, including cancer agents, group sales are now projected at ¥420 billion instead of the earlier estimated ¥400 billion.
The estimate for group operating profit has also been revised upward, to ¥67 billion from ¥63 billion.