UPDATE 1-Celgene sees inflammatory drugs driving new growth

* Celgene presents research pipeline to analysts

* Company details drugs for psoriasis, lung cancer, anemia

* Key focus on inflammatory drugs, cellular therapeutics

* Shares off 0.3 percent (Recasts first sentence, adds previous sales forecast, stem cell study, updates share movement)

By Toni Clarke and Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - Celgene Corp (CELG.O) unveiled a raft of experimental new drugs on Thursday that it believes will supercharge its growth for years to come, including treatments for psoriasis, lung cancer and anemia.

The company said it expects to deliver $6 billion in revenue alone from its blood cancer drugs, including Revlimid, Thalomid and Vidaza, by 2015, with growth being driven by expansion into treatment of new cancers and geographic diversity.

The company also has high hopes for apremilast, an experimental treatment for the skin disorder psoriasis and for psoriatic arthritis for which Celgene plans to begin late stage clinical trials this year. Celgene said the drug could eventually generate annual sales in excess of $2 billion to $3 billion.

Celgene's total revenue in 2009 was $2.69 billion, with Revlimid sales accounting for $1.7 billion. It has forecast 2010 total revenue of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion and Revlimid sales of $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion.

Expanded use of Revlimid as a maintenance therapy is expected to boost those sales to $3.82 billion by 2013, according to a consensus forecast from Thomson Pharma.

Already one of the world's biggest biotechnology companies, and a favorite among investors, Celgene is out to show it can diversify beyond Revlimid, its flagship multiple myeloma drug, particularly in the areas of immune-modulating and anti-inflammatory drugs.

The company will need new products to maintain the double-digit revenue growth investors have come to expect; and it is convinced that it has them.

In their first research and development presentation to Wall Street in five years, Celgene executives outlined plans for an extensive array of products that Citigroup analyst Yaron Werber estimates have the potential, if approved, to generate sales of $4.4 billion by 2019.

The company aims to win approval and obtain global leadership with Revlimid in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia and plans to launch the drug against multiple myeloma in Japan in the second half of 2010.

Celgene is particularly focused on its inflammatory and immune-modulating drugs, of which the most advanced is apremilast -- an oral drug that inhibits multiple pro-inflammatory cell types by blocking an enzyme known as PDE-4. The PDE-4 class of drugs has thus far proved difficult to develop, failing either due to lack of efficacy or unacceptable side effects.

But Celgene said apremilast and follow-on candidates will be a key platform for future growth -- a technology that could one day be as important for the company as Revlimid and its predecessor Thalomid are today.

Randall Steven, head of clinical research and development for inflammation and immunology, said clinical trials of apremilast so far have not thrown up serious safety problems, such as the severe infections that can occur with rival big-selling treatments such as Amgen Inc's (AMGN.O) Enbrel.

That means it is unlikely patients would require ongoing blood test monitoring. Side effects were mostly mild, such as headache and diarrhea, he said.

The company said it is also excited about amrubicin, a lung cancer drug in late-stage development, and ACE-011, a drug it is developing with Acceleron Pharma Inc to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia.

Celgene Chief Executive Sol Barer said he is particularly enthused about the company's cellular therapeutic program, including PDA-001, a treatment derived from human placenta stem cells. [ID:nN08221824]

The company unveiled initial results of a tiny study of PDA-001 in 12 patients with active moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease who had failed to respond to prior therapy. It said the stem cell infusion therapy met its primary safety goal and demonstrated encouraging signs of clinical benefit, including clinical remission among four of the patients.

Celgene said the data is promising enough that it will conduct multiple Phase II studies across a number of diseases.

"This is early, but I am very excited about these results," said Barer, at the meeting in New York. "We feel compelled to take it into other diseases as well as Crohn's disease."

Some analysts remain skeptical that the company can significantly reduce its dependence on Revlimid any time soon.

"We still have Revlimid accounting for two-thirds of the company's revenue by 2018," said Karen Andersen, an analyst at Morningstar.

Celgene shares edged down 0.3 percent to $63.03 on the Nasdaq on Thursday afternoon. (Reporting by Toni Clarke, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)