GENZYME PRODUCT SALES ARE $61.1 MIL. IN THIRD QUARTER, UP 27.1%; CHIRON THIRD QUARTER SALES INCLUDE $1.3 MIL. FROM BETASERON AND $6.7 MIL. FROM PROLEUKIN

Product sales at Genzyme rose 27.1% in the third quarter to $61.1 mil., the company reported. Total revenues increased 27% to $72.4 mil. in the quarter and 27.8% to $203.2 mil. through nine months. Net income for the quarter jumped 40.9% to $13.5 mil. Year to date, Genzyme earnings are just shy of $36 mil. compared to a loss of $38.7 mil. recorded through nine months of 1992. The loss last year included $51.1 mil. for the purpose of in-process R&D and $16.9 mil. for a write-off of the value of the company's options to purchase Neozyme II. Genzyme announced Oct. 18 that it will buy back R&D venture Neozyme I's two remaining development products for $49 mil. Phase I/II trials of the Vianain enzyme for burn debridement have been completed and an expanded Phase II study is under way. Initial trials for skin ulcers are expected to begin next year, Genzyme said. Clinical evaluation of the fetal cell separation and analysis program as a non-invasive alternative to amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling techniques are also expected to begin in 1994. Neozyme I reported Nov. 4 investment income of $121,000 for the quarter. The R&D unit spent $2.7 mil. during the quarter for R&D, down from $4.2 mil. in the same period of 1992. The company paid Genzyme $2 mil. in connection with the expansion of the Vianain program. Neozyme II, which was formed in March 1992 to develop gene therapy and protein replacement products for cystic fibrosis, reported investment income of $2.9 mil. in the three- month period and $3.3 mil. in R&D costs. Chiron sales jumped 27.9% to $78.4 mil. in the three-month period and 20% to $224.2 mil. through nine months, the company reported Nov. 1. Earnings were $4.9 mil. in the quarter versus a $7.5 mil. loss in the year-earlier period. Through nine months, Chiron reported $12.8 mil. in net income compared to a $52.4 mil. loss in the comparable period of 1992. Product sales during the quarter increased 32.9% to $36.1 mil. in the quarter and 17.9% in the nine months to $97.8 mil. Chiron attributed the increases primarily to "sales growth at Chiron IntraOptics and increased U.S. sales of Proleukin (aldesleukin)." Sales to Berlex of Betaseron beta interferon for multiple sclerosis were $1.3 mil. for the quarter, Chiron noted. Betaseron shipments began in October. Sales of the interleukin-2 therapy Proleukin in the quarter were $6.7 mil. and $15.8 mil. year-to- date. Proleukin was approved in May 1992 for metastatic renal cell carcinoma.