Japan's Eisai sees flat nine-month 2009 sales but net income leaps nearly 38%

Japanese pharmaceutical major Eisai achieved net sales of 604.49 billion yen ($6.67 billion) for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2009, a 1.0% increase year-on-year. Operating income was 85.06 billion yen, up15.9%, and ordinary income rose 20.6% to 80.07 billion yen, while net income leapt 37.7% to 53.92 billion yen.

For the reporting period, sales of Aricept (donepezil), an anti-Alzheimer's agent, increased 3.8% to 237.56 billion yen, while those of Pariet (rabeprazole; US brand name Aciphex), a proton pump inhibitor, decreased 7.1% to 114.38 billion yen, Turnover of oncology-related products declined 1.7% to 57.84 billion yen.

Despite the Company's continued investment of resources in R&D activities, operating income, ordinary income, and net income increased as a result of improved efficiencies in SG&A expenses. As a result, basic earnings per share for this period came to 189.25 yen, increasing by 51.76 from the same period of the previous fiscal year).

Strong domestic showing, but sales fall in USA and Europe