Net profit of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), the largest U.S. pharmaceutical group, decreased by 19% in the first quarter, to $1.79 billion, or 24 cents per share, from $2.2 billion a year ago, writes Reuters. Revenue fell 7% from last year to $15.4 billion due to the impact of patent expiration, last November, of Lipitor drug used for lowering the cholesterol, which affected sales of pharmaceutical division. Without the figures for special items, Pfizer’s earnings were 58 cents per share. Analysts’ forecast was 56 cents per share. In U.S. Pfizer recorded revenues of $6 billion, a 15% drop from last year. Worldwide revenues without U.S. were at the same level as last year’s first quarter, at $9.5 billion. However, there was a big surge of 9% in emerging markets (Russia, China, Mexico) revenues.
Pfizer also recorded exceptional charges of $450 million related to closing a settlement with Brigham Young University, on the development of painkiller Celebrex. Pfizer’s forecast for adjusted profit was lowered, considering the $11.85 billion sale last month of Pfizer Nutrition division to Nestle, the giant Swiss food maker. The revenue from Celebrex, a pain killer, was up 7% to $634 million, but the revenue from prescription drugs was down 8% to $13.07 billion. Lipitor sales fell 42% to $1.4 billion from $2.39 billion a year ago.
“Pfizer copes surprisingly well with the Lipitor patent loss. When you lose exclusivity for the best selling drug in the world, and earnings per share dropped by only 3%, it is much better than some analysts had estimated a few years ago,” said Damien Conover, an analyst at Morningstar. He noted that Pfizer compensates the loss of this patent by reducing costs and launching new drugs.
Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, is expecting for 2012 a drop of 6 cents in earnings per share, between $2.14 and $2.24; the previous forecast of analysts was $2.26. Shares of Pfizer were around $22.90 at noon on NYSE, about the same as at the closing on Monday
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