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UPDATE 3-Allergan forecasts 2007 below Street view

Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:02 PM ET

(Adds detail on experimental eye drug in paragraph 8, breast sales forecast in paragraph 11, stock reaction)

CHICAGO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Medical device maker Allergan Inc. (AGN.N: Quote, Profile , Research), which sells the Botox wrinkle treatment, on Wednesday said quarterly profit fell, and forecast 2007 earnings below some Wall Street expectations on sluggish growth in its silicone breast implants.

In November, U.S. regulators lifted a 1992 ban on the silicone implants, which are seen as a major profit driver for Allergen. But demand has not been as robust as expected.

"The expectations had been that given the pricing, they were going to double the franchise," for breast implants, said Corey Davis, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder. The company had previously sold saline implants and the new silicone implants are nearly double the price.

"The chatter is you are not seeing a huge spike in uptake," he said.

Irvine, California-based Allergan said net income fell 2.4 percent to $136.8 million, or 89 cents per share, compared with $140.1 million, or $1.03 a share a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.02 per share, matching Wall Street analysts' average forecasts, according to Reuters Estimates.

Its 2007 earnings forecast of $4.27 to $4.31 per share falls below the average analyst forecast of $4.35 per share.

Allergan also announced that its experimental treatment for glaucoma called Memantine failed to meet its primary goal in a late-stage clinical trial. It is still reviewing data, and could not determine the impact to the product's approval, but said meetings with U.S. regulators could take up to a year.

Revenue rose 38 percent to $829.1 million, buoyed by products acquired when it bought rival Inamed, maker of silicone breast implants.

Eye care product sales rose 14 percent to $386 million. Botox and related product sales rose 20 percent to $273 million. Breast product sales were $58.5 million.

For 2007, it forecast breast product sales in a range of $250 million to $280 million.

The company forecast first-quarter profit excluding items of 88 cents to 90 cents per share, short of analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, who had forecast 98 cents per share.

Shares rose $1.19 cents to $117.06 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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