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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (502)	7/9/1998 8:06:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Dow Jones - Pfizer Posts Robust Earnings, Helped By Popularity Of Viagra July 09, 1998 6:23 PM NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Pfizer Inc. late Thursday reported a stronger-than-expected 37% jump in second-quarter net income and a 25% jump in sales, helped by strong sales of its blockbuster impotence drug Viagra. New York-based Pfizer (PFE) said net income rose to $628 million, or 47 cents a diluted share, two cents a share better than the mean estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call. For the year-ago quarter, the company had net income of $457 million, or 35 cents a diluted share. Revenue rose to $3.63 billion, helped in part by the "extraordinary performance" of Viagra, which was introduced in April in the hottest new-drug launch ever. Pfizer said that as of June 26, 2.7 million Viagra prescriptions had been filled and $411 million in sales recorded. The company said it plans to introduce Viagra in 50 countries by the end of the year, assuming approval in Europe by the fourth quarter. But the company's top-selling drug during the quarter was Norvasc, a treatment for hypertension and angina. Sales of Norvasc grew 18% to $618 million. The increased emphasis on Norvasc, in part, hurt the older hypertension drug Procardia XL, which saw sales fall 6% to $157 million. Sales of Cardura, which treats hypertension and benign prostatic hyperplasia, rose 7% to $159 million in the quarter. Pfizer also reported strong sales of drugs sold through through alliances with other companies, including the high-cholesterol treatment Lipitor and Aricept, which is used to treat Alzheimer's disease. The company's Trovan antibiotic, which was introduced earlier this year, tallied sales of $22 million. Pfizer said it plans to introduce Trovan in about 20 countries this year. Pfizer said sales of Zoloft, a treatment for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder rose 23% to $398 million. The company was dealt a setback late last month when its schizophrenia drug Zeldox was declared "non-approvable" by the Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer said it plans to meet with FDA officials over the decision and will submit additional data if necessary. Pfizer said it's comfortable with the current range of analyst diluted earnings per share estimates of $2.05 to $2.10 for 1998. That projection excludes impacts from acquisitions, divestitures, licensing fees, legal settlements and any other unusual events, Pfizer said. The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call is for a profit of $2.09 a share for 1998. For 1997, Pfizer had net income of $2.21 billion, or $1.76 a share, on revenue of $12.19 billion. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.