Andrx' 4th-qtr 2005 income drops 16%

US generic drugmaker Andrx Corp says that its revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2005, fell 15.7% on the like, year-ago period, to $244.9 million, while net income nose-dived 60.4% to $8.2 million. However, last week, the Florida-headquartered firm accepted a $1.9 billion acquisition from the USA's Watson Pharmaceuticals (Marketletter March 20).

Andrx' chief executive, Thomas Rice, noted that a fair value re-estimate on its North Carolina facility, based on current market conditions, resulted in a $10.0 million impairment charge to cost of goods sold, but stressed that Watson's offer "ascribes significant value to our manufacturing, R&D, controlled-release technologies, distribution network and employees," adding that it provides "excellent" value to its shareholders.

On a quarterly sequential basis, distributed products revenue fell 5.0% to $155.5 million relative to third-quarter 2005, which is when it stopped selling to Internet pharmacies and certain pain clinics, which generated $7.2 million in revenues.