Lipitor competition holds Pfizer back
pharmafile | July 31, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Lipitor, Pfizer, Prevnar, Q2
Pfizer’s revenues in the second quarter of 2013 fell 7% year-on-year, in part due to the loss of patent in the US and Europe on its statin Lipitor.
Overall sales were down $995 million to $12.9 billion, with primary care hit hardest – down 24% on the same period in 2012 to $3.3 billion, with the Lipitor effect in full flow.
It has not been a great start to the year for Pfizer, with Q1 sales down 9%, or $1.4 billion, albeit in a challenging market.
For Q2, the termination of the co-promotion agreement for Aricept in Japan in December 2012 also did not help, with similar deals in the US, Europe and other countries for Spiriva entering their final year and thus seeing a pre-agreed decline in Pfizer’s share of revenues for the brand.
Speciality care revenues were also $3.3 billion, although the drop was just 3% in Q2: part of this was because the US government stockpiled Prevnar/Prevenar in the fourth quarter of 2012, which means that purchases of the drug this year have been fewer.
There was also an impact from shifting the reporting of Geodon and Revatio revenues in the US, and Xalabrands revenues in Europe and Australia, to the established products unit in January – although as a result, revenues at that business unit grew 11% to $2.3 billion.
Q2 revenues in oncology were up 24% to $399 million, primarily due to the uptake of Inlyta and Xalkori and decent performances from Lyrica and Celebrex.
Pfizer announced this week it is to restructure from January 2014, splitting commercial operations into three segments focussed on drugs which are in patent and those which have lost, or will soon lose, market exclusivity.
“This new model represents the next step in Pfizer’s journey to further revitalise our innovative core, enhance the value of our consumer and off-patent established brands and maximise the use of our capital to create value for Pfizer and our patients, consumers and shareholders,” said chief executive Ian Read.
Continuing one of pharma’s key recent trends, the manufacturer also repurchased $3.3 billion of common stock in the second quarter, taking its total for the year to $8.7 billion.
Getting rid of animal health business Zoetis in June also generated more than $17 billion.
Adam Hill
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