* Q3 sales up 7.8 pct, drug sales up 9.4 at constant rates
* Increases margin goal to 17-17.5 pct from around 14 pct
* Partner Roche says diabetes drug meets Phase III goal
* Dysport launched in U.S. for spasm in neck muscles
* Shares rise 6.32 pct
(Adds CEO comment, shares, detail)
By Caroline Jacobs
PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Ipsen said it had positive trial data on a potential blockbuster diabetes drug with Swiss partner Roche and had launched its treatment for neck spasms in the United States.
Ipsen on Wednesday raised its full-year operating margin due to royalties from a drug partnership deal after saying its third-quarter sales grew 7.3 percent.
Shares in Ipsen were up 6.3 percent at 35.05 euros by 1415 GMT.
Ipsen said Swiss partner Roche had found that Type 2 diabetes candidate drug Taspoglutide -- which originated in Ipsen laboratories -- met its main target in a final phase clinical trial.
Several analysts called the first data on Taspoglutide, a possible rival to Eli Lilly's Byetta, "encouraging" but said they would wait for more data at the end of this year or early next. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease.
Ipsen sees Taspoglutide as a potential blockbuster and if cleared for marketing, it will get royalties of 15 percent of Roche's sales of the product on top of about 200 million euros in milestone payments linked to the drug's development.
Ibsen separately announced the launch of Dysport to treat muscle spasms in the neck, a disorder called cervical dystonia, in the United States, which makes it the company's third global product. The drug has been competing with Allergan's Botox as an anti-wrinkle treatment in the world's biggest drug market since June.
Ipsen raised its operating margin forecast to 17 to 17.5 percent from its previous estimate of "around" 14 percent.
"Ipsen ... unsurprisingly adjusted its EBIT (earning before interest and taxes) guidance", Societe Generale analyst Rodolphe Besserve said. "This remains below our estimate, which is above 18 percent for the 2009."
Group sales in the third quarter rose 7.8 percent on a year ago to 256.4 million euros ($380.4 million), taking the nine-month total to 777.5 million euros. At constant exchange rates, sales increased 6.1 percent in the first nine months.
Revenue from drugs should still grow between 7 and 9 percent at constant rates this year, Ipsen said. On that basis, quarterly drug sales rose 9.4 percent and 7.1 percent in the nine-month period.
Growth came mainly from its endocrinology and neurology drugs, such as Dysport. The drug has been available in European countries to treat neck spasms for some time.
Dysport won regulatory clearance in the United States in April for use against cervical dystonia and as an anti-wrinkle treatment -- the only rival to Allergan's Botox, which had sales of $1.3 billion in 2008.
Dysport is marketed as a cosmetic treatment in the United States by Ipsen's partner, Medicis Pharmaceutical, while in Europe, where it is called Azzalure, the drug is marketed by Galderma, a dermatology joint-venture between French cosmetics group L'Oreal and Swiss food group Nestle.
Ipsen, which has made U.S. expansion one of its priorities, has kept the U.S. marketing rights for cervical dystonia.
"We expect an acceleration of the dynamic in (U.S) sales growth with the launch of Dysport," Ipsen Chairman and Chief Executive Jean-Luc Belingard said at a conference call.
The company's U.S. drug sales have taken off following several acquisitions in 2008 but the North American region is still a relatively small part of sales.
He declined to say how Dysport was faring as a cosmetic treatment, saying Ipsen's partners were better able to give such information.
Botulinum toxin type A jabs have been the No.1 U.S. non-surgical cosmetic procedure for several years, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
Piper Jaffray analysts said that Dysport cost $700 per treatment, about 30 cheaper than Allergan's Botox at $1,000. ($1=.6740 euros) (Reporting by Caroline Jacobs; Editing by David Holmes and Karen Foster)