US pharmaceutical sales driving growth at Aventis as 2nd-qtr profits rise

Franco-German group Aventis has reported second-quarter 2001 net incomeof 413 million euros ($361.2 million, an increase of 10.5% over the like, year-earlier period, but turnover slipped 0.6% to 5.78 billion euros. However, the company noted that these figures include the contributions of Aventis CropScience and Aventis Animal Nutrition, which are in the process of being divested as the firm concentrates on its core pharmaceuticals business (Marketletters passim).

Aventis Pharma reported sales of 4.45 billion euros, a rise of 8.1%, with turnover in the USA going up 17.4% to 1.60 billion euros. Growth was driven by the anti-allergy drug Allegra/Telfast (fexofenadine), which rose 50.2% to 460 million euros, and Aventis noted that revenues from the treatment were strong in the USA, as well as in Japan, where it was launched in November last year. Six-months sales of Allegra in Japan were 82 million euros.

Also performing well was the antithrombotic Lovenox (enoxaparin sodium), which climbed 41.8% to 369 million euros, again boosted by sales in the USA, while turnover of the breast cancer therapy Taxotere (docetaxel) leapt 39.8% to 254 million euros. US revenues for the treatment totaled 117 million euros, an increase of 22.6%.