Eisai Co. Ltd. said its profit for the nine-month period ended Dec. 31, 2017, fell 26.8%, while revenue grew 7.5%.
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent dropped to about ¥28.11 billion from about ¥38.42 billion a year ago.
The Japanese drugmaker's diluted EPS was ¥98.13, down from ¥134.14 in the year-ago period.
Eisai attributed the drop in profit to its aggressive investment in Alzheimer's disease and oncology projects, with research and development expenses for the period up to about ¥102 billion, compared to about ¥82.91 billion from a year ago.
Meanwhile, revenue increased to ¥439.94 billion from about ¥409.22 billion in the previous year. The company attributed the growth to its global oncology drugs Halaven and Lenvima.
Eisai maintained its forecast for the nine-month period ending March 31, and expects revenue to rise 6.8% to ¥575.50 billion and profit attributable to shareholders to grow 1.1% to ¥39.80 billion, or ¥139.17 per share.
As of Feb. 1, US$1 was equivalent to ¥109.45.
