Genzyme 3Q Profit Plunges On Facility Costs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Production problems at Genzyme Corp.'s Boston facility sheared the biotechnology company's third-quarter profit while also prompting another cut in financial guidance.

A facility shutdown in June caused shortages of the company's key moneymaker, Cerezyme, and resulted in $23.7 million in costs.

On Wednesday, the company said profit during the quarter plunged to just under $16 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with $119.6 million, or 42 cents per share, during the same period a year prior. Revenue fell 8.9 percent to $1.06 billion from $1.16 billion.

Excluding charges, the company said it earned 31 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected profit of 44 cents per share on revenue of $1.11 billion.

In June, Genzyme temporarily shut down its production facility in the Boston neighborhood of Allston to clean up viral contamination that had been slowing down the process for making supplies of Cerezyme and Fabrazyme. The virus is not harmful to people, but was found in the bioreactors used to make the living cells that are in turn used to make the biotech-based treatments.