Pfizer Q3 profits hit hard
pharmafile | November 3, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Liptior sales, Pfizer, Pfzier Q3 results, Wyeth
The integration of Wyeth into Pfizer continues to drive its revenue growth, but at a cost – charges from the acquisition were a major factor in a 70% slide in the company’s third quarter net income.
Pfizer also took a $701 million hit from asbestos litigation relating to its subsidiary Quigley, which made products containing the dangerous substance.
Revenues in the quarter rose 39% to $16.2bn, due primarily to the $5.2bn in sales generated from the former Wyeth business last year.
But it was bad news for the company’s biggest seller, the anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor, sales of which slipped 11% to $2.5 billion in the third quarter.
Pfizer’s arthritis pain drug Celebrex also fell, decreasing by 4% to $578m but were partially offset by pain pill Lyrica, which generated $757 million, an increase of 7 percent.
Wyeth legacy vaccines Prevnar and Prevnar13 for pneumonia had combined sales of $735 million.
Pfizer chairman and chief executive Jeff Kindler said: “It’s been just over a year since the closing of the Wyeth acquisition – I am particularly pleased with the speed of the integration, the cost synergies achieved to date as well as our solid financial performance this quarter and year-to-date in this difficult economic environment.
“This combination is clearly creating opportunities to provide greater value for our shareholders.”
Pfizer sought to add new revenue sources this month with an agreement to buy King Pharmaceuticals for $3.6 billion to acquire a painkiller franchise, that analysts say will be the leading player in the US for opioid pain relief therapies by 2015.
Kindler added: “Our pending acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals is consistent with our stated objective of seeking a larger presence in the pain market within the primary care unit, while our acquisition of FoldRx enhances the orphan and rare disease pipeline portfolio of our Specialty Care unit.
“Further, our alliance with Biocon is expected to advance our biosimilars strategy by positioning us competitively in the diabetes market over time, while our agreement with Laboratorio Teuto Brasileiro S.A. is expected to broaden our emerging markets presence.”
Kindler added: “We are reviewing strategic alternatives for Capsugel in order to optimise the value of this asset. We believe these actions, taken together, will serve to improve our business profile and provide both near-term and longer-term financial benefit.”
Ben Adams
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