(Bloomberg) -- Biogen Inc. raised its annual earnings guidance after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter sales and profit, driven by ongoing cost-cutting measures and the strong performance of its new Alzheimer’s treatment.

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The biotech company now expects 2024 adjusted per-share earnings in the range of between $16.10 to $16.60 — an increase of 35 cents from the midpoint of its prior projection.

Adjusted third-quarter earnings were $4.08 a share, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said Wednesday in a statement. While that’s a 6% decline from a year earlier, it beat analysts’ estimates.

The results could help Biogen start to restore investor confidence. The stock is down 29% this year as of Tuesday’s close, largely due to a sluggish start for Leqembi — on the market to treat Alzheimer’s since January 2023 — and the recent rejection by European regulators over safety concerns.

Biogen shares rose 2.2% in early trading at 7:02 a.m. New York time.

Since assuming the role in late 2022, Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher has worked to bolster Leqembi sales, trim expenses, and diversify Biogen’s portfolio to mitigate its dependence on high-risk neuroscience ventures. In May, Biogen agreed to buy Human Immunology Biosciences Inc. for as much as $1.8 billion to expand its pipeline with immune disease treatments. Viehbacher also led Biogen’s largest-ever acquisition last year, buying Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $7.3 billion to gain its approved therapy for Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare neurodegenerative disorder.

Last year, Biogen announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs — over 11% of its workforce — and reduce operating expenses by an additional $700 million by 2025. On Wednesday, the company projected that these cost-cutting efforts will help drive operating income growth in the high-teen percentage range for the year.

Quarterly sales of Leqembi, which Biogen developed in partnership with Japan’s Eisai Co., rose to $67 million from around $40 million in the previous quarter, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $51 million.

Biogen is banking on Leqembi helping to offset the decline of its multiple sclerosis medications. Leqembi is the first drug shown to slow progression of Alzheimer’s, the mind-robbing disease that afflicts some 6 million Americans, but US sales have been slowed by logistical hurdles.