Elan Corporation has said its annual turnover will rise to $1 billion by year end and is confident all filings for new drugs over the next 18 months will meet their deadlines.

The comments were made at the company's annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday by the chairman and chief executive officer, Mr Donal Geaney. He said the company's share price had been affected by a general downturn in healthcare stocks, and Elan had weathered the storm better than most.

He said in the third quarter Elan would apply to have its Alzheimers compound submitted for initial human trials and said this would be a significant advance for the company. He said there was a $100 billion market in the United States for an Alzheimers treatment.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the chief financial officer, Mr Tom Lynch, said the company had examined filings made by other companies, and according to these, there was no other company as advanced in technology relating to Alzheimers. He said when the submission was made in the third quarter, it should stimulate a lot of interest. Mr Lynch said the criticism of Elan's accounting practices now seemed to have abated.

Elan was heavily criticised by the influential US magazine, For- tune, among others, for putting the cost of some of its development work "off balance sheet". Mr Lynch said the practice would be ended by the US authorities by the end of the year, but this change would have "no impact" on Elan earnings per share.

He said the recent softening in the share price was a combination of worries over Ziconotide and a perception in the market that pharmaceutical stocks were too expensive. He said the company's price per earnings ratio was at about 25 at present, but would be closer to 21 next year. He said Elan was looking to attract more European shareholders who held a relatively small amount of stock when compared to US investors.