SB Sales Jump 8%, Fuelled By New Drugs

SmithKline Beecham's sales for third-quarter 1994 increased 8% to L1.59 billion ($2.43 billion), with new pharmaceutical product sales reaching L226 million, up 83% on the comparable year-earlier period. Pharmaceutical sales were up 3% at L846 million. Earnings per share rose 4% to 7.8 pence, but pretax profits declined 2% to L285 million, as a result of higher interest costs associated with the financing of Diversified Pharmaceutical Services Inc in the USA and the disposal the previous year of personal care businesses.

"Excellent performance of new products," led by the antidepressant Seroxat/Paxil (paroxetine), with sales rising 106% to L87 million for the quarter, allowed SB to offset the expected decline in Tagamet (cimetidine) prescriptions that followed US patent expiry, said the company's chief executive Jan Leschly. Famvir (famciclovir) has captured a 30% share of the herpes zoster market in the UK since its first quarter launch and Havrix (hepatitis A vaccine) sales rose 83% to L70 million.