Forest's EPS falls to $0.79 in 2nd-qtr 2008

US drugmaker Forest Laboratories says that fully-diluted earnings per share in the three months ended June 31, 2008, totaled $0.79 versus $0.83 in the like, year-ago period. During the reporting quarter, which represents the first quarter of the firm's fiscal year 2009, revenues increased 4.2% to $966.8 million.

Revenues were comprised of net sales, which increased 6.1% to $893.7 million from $842.6 million in the prior year. Income included $583.1 million for Lexapro (escitalopram oxalate), for depression and anxiety in adults, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year. Namenda (memantine), a treatment for moderate and severe Alzheimer's disease, earned $218.6 million, a rise of 14%. The company's newest product, Bystolic (nebivolol), a novel beta blocker for the treatment of hypertension, which was launched in late January 2008, had sales of $4.4 million. Forest also earned $73.1 million, which includes contract revenue of $52.4 million, from its Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) co-promotion agreement, and was flat on last year.