Milestone payment lifts cancer drug maker Medivation to 3rd-quarter profit from year-ago loss

Medivation Inc., which makes the prostate cancer drug Xtandi, said Thursday that it swung to a profit in the third quarter as it booked a $90 million milestone fee from partner Astellas Pharma.

The San Francisco-based company earned $78 million, or 96 cents per share, compared with a year-ago loss of $13.3 million, or 18 cents per share. Revenue surged to $200.5 million from $60 million, boosted by the milestone fee it received for the expanded approval of Xtandi by the Food and Drug Administration in September.

The results topped analysts' average forecast for earnings of 84 cents per share on sales of $182.4 million, according to FactSet.

Medivation is forecasting full-year revenue at the high end or just above its prior forecast of $615 million to $640 million.

Medivation shares have risen 64 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $104.95, a rise of 68 percent in the last 12 months.