Serono posts 106 million dollar 2005 loss, after US fine

GENEVA (AFP) — The Swiss-based biotechnology and pharmaceuticals company Serono announced a 106.1-million-dollar (89.6-million-euro) net loss for 2005, after its financial results were bit by a fine in the United States.

Serono, which turned a 494-million-dollar profit in 2004, was ordered to pay 725 million dollars over fraud allegations, an amount that was accounted for in the first quarter.

Without that punishment, Serono said, annual profit in 2005 increased 28.4 percent to 565.3 million dollars.

The fine, which concerned marketing practices in the United States for the drug Serostim, used to treat involuntary weight loss in AIDS patients, was booked in the first quarter of 2005.

Turnover last year rose 5.2 percent to 2.58 billion dollars, Serono said. It dipped 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter to 669 million dollars.

In particular, sales of the company's ...