Pfizer announces fourth-quarter and full-year results

Pfizer (New York, US) has reported its fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2005, both of which show drops against 2004 figures but exceed expectations.

Revenue for the fourth-quarter reached $13.6bn, compared to $14.9bn in 2004, contributing to a full-year total of $51.3bn, compared to $52.5bn in 2004. Reported net income totalled $2.7bn for the quarter and $8.1bn for the year. The 2004 figures stood at $2.8bn and $11.4bn respectively.

Hank McKinnell, chairman and ceo, put the better-than-expected performance in the quarter down to 'better revenue performance in the human health business; and operating expense savings, coupled with the acceleration of the "Adapting to Scale" (AtS) cost savings to $800 million in 2005, which is double the goal for the year'.

The company experienced worldwide double-digit growth on many of its medicines in 2005, with a 12% increase on Lipitor to $12.2bn ($3.4bn in the fourth-quarter, marking a 3% rise on the same period in 2004), a 272% increase on Caduet and a 73% increase on Aromasin, but was hit by releases of generic versions of its drugs following patent expirations.

Neurontin, an epilepsy treatment, experienced a 71% drop in sales to $141m in the fourth-quarter, while hypertension drug Accupril fell 74% to $44m. Overall, loss of exclusivity cumulatively reduced the company's worldwide revenue for the year by $5.7bn.

Meanwhile Celebrex, an arthritis treatment that has been compared to Vioxx, Merck's withdrawn arthritis drug, fell 53% in the fourth-quarter to $472m. Fourth-quarter sales for Viagra fell 8%, contributing to a full-year decline of 2%.

The company has launched seven new medicines over the past two years (Inspra, Caduet, Olmetec, Macugen, Revatio, Zmax, and Lyrica), the combined sales of which totalled $284m in the fourth-quarter and $632m in full-year revenue worldwide.

It has six products under FDA review, with priority review granted for three: Sutent (sunitinib), an oral agent with anti-angiogenic and anti-tumour activity; Champix (varenicline), for smoking cessation, and Eraxis (anidulafungin), an antifungal agent.

The other three are: Exubera, an inhaled insulin drug for type 1 and type 2 diabetes; Indiplon, which is filed for two NDAs for the treatment of adult insomnia, and Zeven a once-weekly intravenous antibiotic for the treatment of complicated skin and skin-structure infections.

'We completed the year with positive news on many frontsincluding double-digit full-year worldwide growth of Lipitor; an exceptional Lyrica launch in the US; priority-review status for potential breakthrough medicines and favourable decisions in Lipitor patent cases [against Ranbaxy],' said McKinnell. 'Our strategy of driving growth in our in-line medicines and investing in promising new medicines is the essence of the new Pfizer. While we are pleased that Pfizer's performance in 2005 exceeded previous expectations, investors should be aware that the factors driving Pfizer's performance may differ materially in 2006.'