Pfizer Quarterly Sales Fall
April 28 2020 - 7:42AM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Sebastian
Pfizer Inc. said its sales fell for the first three months of
the year as it saw a slower rate of new prescriptions and
vaccinations as Covid-19 shelter-in-place measures remain in
place.
The New York drugmaker on Tuesday posted $12.03 billion in
first-quarter sales, down 8% from the comparable quarter last year.
Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $11.81 billion.
Sales in the company's patent-protected medicines rose 11% to
$10 billion, driven by sales of key brands such as blood-thinner
Eliquis and breast-cancer drug Ibrance.
Sales in its Upjohn unit, which includes Lyrica and
anti-impotence pill Viagra, fell 37% to $2.02 billion. Pfizer's
Upjohn business is combining with Mylan NV, forming a new
pharmaceutical company that is to be called Viatris. Due to the
pandemic, Mylan and Pfizer pushed the transaction's expected close
to the second half of the year.
Pfizer said the rate of new prescriptions for certain products
and vaccination has slowed, citing fewer in-person meetings with
subscribers and restrictions on patient movements due to
shelter-in-place policies that weighed on the company's overall
sales and marketing activity. The company expects the slowdown to
carry over into the second quarter.
Pfizer said it restarted the recruitment of patients for certain
ongoing studies after suspending it to make space for health-care
demand related to Covid-19. However, the completion of studies in
recruitment stage of those that have yet to begin could be delayed,
Pfizer said.
Net income fell to $3.4 billion, or 61 cents a share, from $3.88
billion, or 68 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.
Excluding one-time items, earnings were 80 cents a share, ahead
of the 73 cents a share analysts were looking for.
Dozens of companies, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co. and
Gilead Sciences Inc., have been hustling to develop therapies or
vaccines against the virus. Pfizer has said it aims to begin
testing four vaccine candidates in development with Germany's
BioNTech SE by the end of the month.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2020 07:27 ET (11:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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