SmithKline Beecham 3rd Qtr Earnings Leap 20%

Fueled by new products and a strong performance in the USA (up 33%), Anglo-American drugmaker SmithKline Beecham reported third-quarter 1996 sales up 15% at L1.98 billion ($3.09 billion) and pretax profits 20% higher at L374 million ($584 million). Trading profit improved 16% to L394 million and operating margins were maintained despite a 25% rise in R&D spending which reached L191 million for the quarter. For the nine months ended September 30, sales were up 14% at L5.78 billion, and pretax profit rose 18% to L1.1 billion.

Third-quarter pharmaceutical sales saw a 19% rise to L1.16 billion, with new products up 44%. "Successful product launches from our R&D pipeline continue to boost these figures," commented SB's chief executive, Jan Leschly.

Product-related highlights for the quarter included: - the UK launch of Requip (ropinirole) for Parkinson's disease and Andropatch (testosterone patch) for hypogonadism. Requip was also approved in France; - the US launch of Nicoderm CQ for smoking cessation; - the US approval of Denavir (penciclovir), the first topical antiviral cream for the treatment of cold sores, and a recommendation of approval in the USA for Infanrix, the firm's combination pediatric vaccine incorporating an acellular pertussis component; - Europ-ean centralized approvals of two combination vaccines, Twinrix (hepatitis A and B) and Tritanrix-HB (DTPw and hepatitis B); and - the launch of Kredex/Coreg (carvedilol) for congestive heart failure in Sweden and additional approvals for this indication in Spain and Canada, bringing the total to 12 approvals for the product.