‘Solid’ financial performance from Pfizer in Q1
Biopharmaceutical sales slip by 2% to US$14.2bn
Pfizer reported flat sales for the first quarter of 2011 while net income rose by 10% to US$2.2bn. Turnover was $16.5bn compared with $16.6bn in 2010. Biopharmaceutical sales fell by 2% to $14.2bn.
Chief executive Ian Read said he was pleased with a ‘solid’ financial performance during the first quarter, in spite of the loss of exclusivity of several products the US, which saw US revenues decline by 3% to $7bn. Revenue from cholesterol drug Lipitor, for example, fell by 13% to $2.4bn. Sales of erectile dysfunction drug Viagra also dipped, by 2% to $470m, and blood pressure treatment Norvasc fell 3% to $356m.
By contrast, sales of Lyrica, for epilepsy, fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, increased 14% to $826m and there was a strong performance from the pneumococcal disease vaccine Prevnar 13 (+248% to $996m).
Read added that the emerging markets unit delivered 8% operational growth, ‘driven by many of our priority countries, notably China, and continued to benefit from our ongoing targeted investment.’
During 2011 Pfizer expects to present Phase III clinical data for tofacitinib in rheumatoid arthritis, axitinib for renal cell carcinoma, Prevnar/Prevenar 13 for the prevention of pneumococcal disease in adults, and Eliquis for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation, as well as Phase II clinical data for crizotinib for non-small cell lung cancer, among others.
Last month Pfizer announced plans to sell its Capsugel business to an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for nearly $2.4 billion in cash, and Read said the company remains focused on continuing the evaluation of its business portfolio ‘to determine the optimal mix of businesses to maximise our return’.