Mixed economic outlook in fourth quarter figures
Akzo Nobel has reported a 12% growth in sales of its pharma products. Operating income was also up 12% to €848m (US$741m). This was spurred on by a strong performance of its main products. Cees vand Lede, chairman and ceo said: 'In human healthcare, our promising pipeline is delivering a variety of innovative products, such as Remeron Soltab, the new contraceptive NuvaRing, and the next generation antirombotic Arixtra. In addition, our existing product lines are yielding a good performance.' Sales of Remeron (+51%), oral contraceptives (+10%), Puregon (+17%), and Livial (+20%), were all up on 2000.
Sanofi-Synthelabo generated consolidated sales of €6.488bn ($5.711bn) in 2001, an increase of 15.2% compared with 2000. Fourth quarter consolidated sales were €1.678bn ($1.477bn), up 12.5% on the previous year.
Developed sales totalled €8.46bn ($7.70bn), an increase of 20.9%, and included consolidated sales and sales generated under agreements with B-MS on Plavix/Iscover (clopidogrel) and Aprovel/Avapro/Karvea (irbesartan), and with Pharmacia on Stilnox/Ambien (zolpidem). Clopidogrel reinforced its position as the world's number one in the platelet anti-aggregants market, and topped €2bn less than four years after the product's launch. Zolpidem maintained its number one ranking with developed sales of €1,215bn ($1,069bn), a 29% increase on last year.
Rhodia announced a marginal decline in annual overall net sales of 1.9% to €7.279bn ($6.364bn). The Fine Organics division, which includes pharmaceuticals 'suffered from a downturn in business during the second half of 2001. The pharmaceutical ingredients business is still burdened by excess production capacity and suffering from Asian competition.' However, the company said that there was clear evidence of growth and profitability in 2002.
The commercialisation of its unique SPR array chip technology meant that Swedish company Biacore's sales increased 24% for the full year 2001 to SEK543.7m (€59.94m). In 2002, the group expects that the growth in the drug delivery and development market will continue with the success of its Biacore 3000 system, its Biacore S51 for lead optimisation and Biacore C, used for quality control applications.
Overall, the company expects to increase its sales by 20%, and plans to invest SEK35m (€4m) on commercialising is SPR array chip technology.