Pharmacia sees 19% EPS rise and Rx pharma sales increase 15% in 1st qtr

Pharmacia Corp says that net sales from its pharmaceutical businessrose 13% to $3.2 billion for the first quarter of 2001, while total turnover (including $1.3 billion from its agricultural units) was up 8% at $4.5 billion. On an adjusted basis, Pharmacia's earnings were $423 million, or $0.32 per share, an increase of 19%. On a reported basis, net earnings were $250 million compared to a loss of $171 million in first-quarter 2000. The quarter's results include $145 million in restructuring and costs related to the merger with Monsanto.

Prescription drug sales were up 15%, with the COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex (celecoxib) rising 24% to $649 million. Turnover of this number-one selling arthritis medication outside the USA rose to $180 million, driven by its successful launch in key European markets, according to the company. The hypnotic Ambien/Stilnox (zolpidem), co-marketed with Sanofi-Synthelabo, grew 114% to $215 million, while Xalatan (latanoprost), which the firm says is the world's top-selling branded glaucoma drug, continued to grow in all major markets, with sales up 24% at $215 million. Turnover of Camptosar (irinotecan) for metastatic colorectal cancer, jumped 72% to $200 million, and that of Detrol LA/Detrol (tolterodine) for the treatment of overactive bladder, rose 35% to $135 million for the quarter.

The growth hormone Genotropin (somatropin) saw sales up a more modest 4%, at $117 million, while Pharmacia's new antibiotic for severe Gram-positive infections, Zyvox (linezolid), recorded sales of $23 million. The product was launched in the UK, its first market, in February and received regulatory approval in Japan earlier this month (Marketletters passim).