Forest's income for fiscal 1st qtr soars 34%

Net income at USA-based pharmaceutical company Forest Laboratories was up 34% to $268.2 million for its fiscal first quarter 2008, ended June 30, equivalent to fully-diluted earnings per share of $0.83. The firm said that the increase had been driven by the success of two key drugs, namely the antidepressant Lexapro (escitalopram), sales of which grew 9% to $552.3 million, and its Alzheimer's disease treatment Namenda (memantine), which saw a 27% revenue expansion to around $191.7 million.

Sales increase 14%, beating estimates

Overall, net revenues at the New York-headquartered drugmaker increased 14% to $928.3 million for the period, beating the consensus sales forecast of $901.2 million on profits of $0.77 per share predicted in a Thomson Financial analyst survey.