Schwarz Pharma Achieves Sharp Growth

Sales of the German generics specialist Schwarz Pharma went up 29% in the first half of 1996 to 588.3 million Deutschemarks ($397.7 million), with operating profits up 28.8% to 98 million marks. Pretax profits turned out at 95.1 million marks, according to the company.

The growth in drug sales has come mainly from the businesses in the USA and Germany acquired since 1995. They added some 85 million marks to first-half turnover. Discounting the acquisitions and exchange-rate factors, the rise in the first half was 8.6%. Schwarz noted that the losses on sales of Tensobon after the patent expiry on captopril have been less than expected.

The subsidiary Isis Pharma increased sales to the generics market by 13%. If the turnover of the Munich-based Puren business is included, the group's generics sales in the 1996 first half grew over 50%.