Genentech profit rises 21 pct

U.S. sales of the colon and lung cancer drug Avastin, which most analysts view as the key barometer of Genentech's fortunes, rose 37 percent to $597 million, topping Wall Street expectations of about $585 million.

Some analysts' fears that Avastin sales would be down from the previous quarter also proved unfounded. The drug had sales of $564 million in the second quarter.

The world's second-largest biotechnology company by sales posted a net profit of $685 million, or 64 cents per share, compared with a profit of $568 million, or 53 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Genentech earned 73 cents per share, slightly beating analysts' average expectation of 72 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company also maintained its forecast for full-year earnings per share growth of 28 percent to 32 percent.

Sales of the newer eye-disease medicine Lucentis at $198 million were down from the previous quarter and shy of analyst estimates of $210 million.

U.S. sales of Rituxan for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis rose 12 percent to $572 million, also shy of Wall Street estimates of about $588 million.

Lucentis' growth has been hampered by competition from Avastin, which is being used off-label in very small doses at a fraction of the cost of Lucentis.

Genentech last week said it was moving to curtail sales of Avastin to independent compounding pharmacies that divide vials of the cancer drug into tiny portions that ophthalmologists can use to treat wet age-related macular degeneration -- the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. Lucentis is approved for that use while Avastin is not, although the drugs work in a similar manner.

U.S. sales of breast cancer treatment Herceptin rose a modest 6 percent to $320 million, while analysts were looking for about $339 million.

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG (VTX: - ) , which owns a majority stake in Genentech, records sales of Genentech drugs outside the United States.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot)