BMS turns in solid first quarter results
pharmafile | May 1, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â BMSÂ
Bristol-Myers Squibb turned in respectable figures for the first quarter of 2008, with net income up 5% to $921 million.
Sales of blood thinner Plavix rose 10% to $1.44 billion while psychiatric drug Abilify jumped 30% to $589m.
But sales of Erbitux were down 12% on Q1 2008 to $164m and BMS still needs to plug the financial gap that will be caused by top-seller Plavix – co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis – when it goes off-patent sometime after 2011.
Revenue was up 2.5% to $5.02bn, compared with the same period last year, and the vast majority of that was pharma sales, up 3% overall to $4.3bn, with US performance markedly better than that of the rest of the world.
First quarter US sales increased 13% year on year to $2.8bn, while international sales fell 11%.
Chief executive James Cornelius insisted that the company's plan to become a "stronger, leaner and more effective enterprise" was on track.
This involves a $2.5bn cost reduction in the next three years and massive redundancies.
The company has made two recent collaborations: the first in January with ZymoGenetics on its PEG-Interferon lambda, a novel type 3 interferon in development for the treatment of Hepatitis C.
The second came in February with Nissan Chemical Industries and Teijin Pharma to commercialize atrial fibrillation treatment NTC-801.
Cornelius said these would expand BMS's pipelines in virology and cardiology "while maintaining a strong balance sheet and carefully managing costs".
Research and development expenses increased by 18% to $923m in the first quarter, primarily due to upfront payments to ZymoGenetics and Nissan.
Mead Johnson Nutrition Company contributed $693m, down 1% on 2008. BMS owns 83% of the company.
In April the company extended its agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical to develop Abilify until April 2015, at which point it expects to lose exclusivity.
The companies will also collaborate on BMS cancer medicines Sprycel and Ixempra.
Cornelius said the move "gives us improved financial stability in the upcoming years, mitigating some of the volatility we would have otherwise experienced leading up to 2014".
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