Update - Pfizer second-quarter net income leaps 31%

Second-quarter 2001 net income at Pfizer increased 31% to $1.89 billion,the company has noted, with diluted earnings per share rising 30% to $0.30, both excluding the impact of significant items and Warner-Lambert merger-related costs (Marketletters passim). Reported revenues were up 10% at $7.67 billion, including the negative effect of foreign exchange, which reduced the total by $260 million.

Lipitor continues to soar

Human pharmaceutical sales increased 15% to $6.01 million. Chief executive Hank McKinnell noted that the eight products that achieved sales of at least $1 billion in 2000 continue to perform strongly, growing a collective 15% in the second quarter. Once again, Pfizer's stellar product was the lipid-lowerer Lipitor (atorvastatin), sales of which increased 14% to $1.44 billion in the quarter, while those of the antihypertensive Norvasc (amlodipine) rose 9% to $879 million.