Pfizer reports strong second quarter, despite declining sales

Hannah Blake

pharmaphorum

Pfizer has announced its second-quarter financial results. The pharmaceutical company’s reported net income for the second quarter was US $3.3 billion, up 25% from the prior-year quarter.

This increase is higher than Wall Street analysts were expecting, despite declining sales, which dropped 9%. This loss was mainly due to expiring drug patents, which included the US patent on cholesterol drug, Lipitor (atorvastatin), in November 2011 and this year’s patent expiry for breast cancer pill, Aromasin (exemestane), which attributed to 5% of the company’s sales loss.

“We delivered solid results this quarter. This performance was achieved despite the $1.8 billion, or 11%, negative impact on revenues of product losses of exclusivity compared with the year-ago period, primarily Lipitor in most major markets. Worldwide revenues from many of our key medicines, including Celebrex, Enbrel, Lyrica and the Prevnar / Prevenar franchise, increased and our Emerging Markets unit generated 14% operational revenue growth, driven primarily by our targeted investments in China and Russia. Overall, I am confident that Pfizer is well-positioned for long-term success given the potential of our innovative late-stage and emerging pipeline, strong operating cash flow, streamlined organization and disciplined approach to capital allocation.”

Ian Read, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Pfizer, stated.

Pfizer are reaffirming its 2012 financial guidance, due to its solid performance in the second quarter.