Warner-Lambert 4th-Qtr Profit Rises 45% to $341 Mln on Lipitor, Rezulin
Bloomberg News
January 25, 1999, 7:34 a.m. ET
Warner-Lambert 4th-Qtr Profit Rises 45% on Lipitor, Rezulin
Morris Plains, New Jersey, Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Warner-
Lambert Co., one of the world's most profitable drugmakers, said
fourth-quarter net income rose 45 percent as it sold more of its
cholesterol-reducer Lipitor and the anti-diabetes pill Rezulin.
Profit rose to $341.1 million, or 40 cents a share, from
$235.7 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. Results matched the
40-cent average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp.
Sales for Warner-Lambert, which also makes Dentyne gum and
Listerine mouthwash, rose 24 percent to $2.88 billion from
$2.33 billion.
While Lipitor has been one of the most successful drugs
introduced in the U.S., Rezulin has been controversial. The drug,
which can help some diabetics avoid the need for insulin shots,
has been linked to serious liver damage and more than 30 deaths.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will
meet in March to review the safety of Rezulin. Still, Warner-
Lambert expects profit to continue to rise this year.
''We are confident that we will realize an increase in
diluted earnings per share of 30 percent in 1999,'' Mel Goodes,
Warner-Lambert's chairman and chief executive, said in a
statement.
The shares of Morris Plains, New Jersey-based Warner-Lambert
rose 15/16 to 67 15/16 Friday.
--Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016 /mfr/shf
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