US 4th Qtr/Year-End Results See Strong Growth

Among US pharmaceutical companies reporting fourth quarter and full-yearresults for 1996, there were some exceptional figures. Pfizer, for example, saw full-year earnings jump 23%, and Abbott Laboratories reported an 11.4% rise in net earnings.

Abbott Laboratories' sales of pharmaceutical and nutritional products worldwide in 1996 amounted to $6.31 billion, a rise of 12% on the year earlier, with US sales accounting for $4.14 billion and international turnover (including direct exports from the USA) worth $2.17 billion of this total. Worldwide sales of hospital and laboratory products reached $4.71 billion, up 7.4%.

Among the highlights of the year, Abbott notes that its leading antibiotic Biaxin (clarithromycin) achieved $1 billion turnover for 1996 and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in combination with the antisecretory drug Prilosec (omeprazole) for the treatment of active duodenal ulcers associated with Helicobacter pylori infections.