Millennium confident in its 2008 Velcade forecast

By Lisa Baertlein

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc MLNM.O said on Wednesday that the company has a "high level of confidence" in its recently issued 2008 forecast for sales of its blood cancer drug Velcade.

The biotechnology company on Friday said 2007 Velcade sales rose 20 percent to $265 million and forecast 2008 sales of $320 million to $345 million, representing growth of 20 percent to 30 percent.

Some analysts had been looking for stronger Velcade growth based on fourth-quarter prescription trends, and the outlook sent Millennium shares lower.

Velcade is currently approved to treat the blood cancer multiple myeloma in patients who have failed other treatments.

Wall Street also expects the drug to get a boost in the middle of this year, when Velcade is expected to win approval as a first-line treatment for multiple myeloma.

Investors at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday peppered Chief Executive Deborah Dunsire and Chief Financial Officer Marsha Fanucci with questions about the company's Velcade forecast in a break-out session at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.

Fanucci said the company has a "high level of confidence" in its forecast, which assumes that Velcade could be on the market by June or July.

In an interview with Reuters, Dunsire said commonly used prescription data does not accurately reflect the company's monthly or quarterly sales.

"It has never yet tracked with sales," Dunsire said.

Millennium's injected drug competes with Revlimid, an oral drug from Celgene Corp (CELG.O), which is also seeking approval for use in previously untreated patients.

Earlier this week, Celgene said 2007 Revlimid net product sales rose more than 140 percent year-on-year to $770 million to $775 Million.

The company expects Revlimid revenue to rise more than 60 percent this year to account for about $1.25 billion in global product sales.

Revlimid is a successor to Celgene's multiple myeloma drug Thalomid.

Dunsire said that the treatment for multiple myeloma would likely be a cocktail of drugs, which could include both Velcade and Revlimid.

"This is absolutely not a zero-sum game," Dunsire said. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Gary Hill)