For the June quarter, Alkermes reported earnings of 14 cents a share, excluding special items, and topped the Wall Street consensus by 10 cents. First-quarter revenue of $68.9 million exceeded the $62.3 million average prediction by analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

After items were included, Alkermes earned $8.75 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with the year-ago loss of $715,000, or 1 cent a share, on revenue of $51.5 million.

Alkermes does well when its partners do well. In the case of J&J, the health care giant had higher sales of the antipsychotic Risperdal Consta, producing manufacturing and royalty revenue of $37.2 million for Alkermes.

Risperdal Consta is an injectable version of J&J's original Risperdal and was developed by Alkermes.

Meanwhile, revenue from the Vivitrol alcoholism drug remained poor. Vivitrol is a once-a-month injectable version of naltrexone, a generic pill taken once a day.