Pfizer Quarterly Sales Fall
April 28 2020 - 8:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Sebastian
Pfizer Inc. said its sales fell for the latest quarter as it saw
gains in its patent-protected medicines but had a decline in its
Upjohn unit, while the rate of new prescriptions and vaccination
slowed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York-based 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.
Pfizer said demand related to the pandemic contributed $150
million to sales for the quarter, as wholesaler buying for the
blood-thinner Eliquis rose.
Sales in the company's patent-protected medicines rose 11% to
$10 billion, driven by sales of key brands such as breast-cancer
drug Ibrance.
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 but for patient visits to
rebound later in the year.
Sales in its Upjohn unit, which includes painkiller Lyrica and
anti-impotence pill Viagra, fell 37% to $2.02 billion, due to the
loss of exclusivity for Lyrica in 2019. 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 it restarted the recruitment of patients for certain
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.
For 2020, the company backed its full-year adjusted-earnings
guidance of $2.82 to $2.92 a share on sales of $48.5 billion to
$50.5 billion.
Dozens of companies, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co. and
Gilead Sciences Inc., have been hustling to develop therapies or
vaccines against the coronavirus. 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 07:56 ET (11:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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