Dainippon Sumitomo down 22% on costs

Japanese drugmaker Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma has reported a 22% plunge in profit for the 12 months to March 31, 2009, due to rising R&D  expenses and increased non-operating costs.

The firm generated 264.04 billion yen ($2.69 billion) in revenue, which  was almost flat on the year earlier, including pharmaceutical sales of  206.82 billion yen, down 1%. R&D costs, however, jumped 12% to 52.82  billion yen.

Overseas sales accounted for 8% of the total revenue figure, reaching  22.05 billion yen, which was a 10% reduction from last year's figure,  when foreign turnover accounted for 9% of total revenue.