Marginal sales increase for Abbott
pharmafile | July 18, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AbbVie, Abbott, Q2
Abbott’s second quarter results saw the company buffeted by currency exchange issues – primarily the yen weakening against the US dollar – with sales overall up just 2.3% to $5.4 billion for the three-month period to the end of June.
There is no direct comparison across the board with this time last year, since Abbott and new entity AbbVie formally split apart at the start of 2013 – AbbVie taking the most high profile drugs with it.
Branded generic pharma, devices, diagnostics and nutrition are now Abbott’s business drivers and the company is setting much store by emerging markets where Q2 sales were $2.3 billion – more than 40% of total sales and a rise of 13.4 per cent.
“All things considered, including headwinds from foreign exchange and a mixed global economy, this was a good quarter,” said Miles White, Abbott’s chairman and chief executive.
Despite these positive words, pharma sales barely moved, up 0.2% year-on-year, in part because of unfavourable rates of foreign exchange and also because of the difficulty in getting traction in developed countries such as those of western Europe and in Japan.
However, the company said: “Abbott is focused on expanding its presence and building local product portfolios in 14 key emerging markets where access to quality healthcare is expanding.”
Sales in these territories, which include Russia, Brazil and India, were up 4.4% year-on-year – a sharp contrast to established markets, where Abbott’s pharma sales fell 3.4 per cent.
“As expected, sales growth in developed markets continues to be negatively impacted by macroeconomic conditions, including European austerity measures,” the company admitted.
Worldwide nutrition sales – split roughly half and half between paediatric and adult – offered more cheer, up 8.4% in Q2, with emerging markets accounting for more than 45% of total sales in this segment.
Diagnostics sales were also much healthier, up 7.6%, with the core laboratory and molecular segments performing well. In June, Abbott received approval for the first FDA-approved hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotyping test in the US.
Adam Hill
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