Altana Pharma's sales rise 1% in 2006

German drug and chemicals group Altana AG says that its consolidated 2006 net sales rose 18% on the previous year, to 3.9 billion euros ($5.1 billion), driven by foreign business, despite the fact that operating domestic sales fell 8% after the reduction of reference prices in the pharmaceuticals division.

Revenues from Altana Pharma AG grew 1% to 8.92 billion euros. This unit now belongs to privately-held Danish drugmaker Nycomed, which bought it for 4.5 billion euros (Marketletter October 2, 2006), and this is the last time Altana will record any of its income.

During the period, drug sales in North America jumped 22%, while income from the domestic market fell 14%, due to government price reductions of the firm's mainstay product, the gastrointestinal drug Pantozol/Protonix (pantoprazole. However, on account of strong foreign business, pantoprazole was able to post another double-digit growth in Altana's own revenues and achieved a sales volume of 1.55