Pfizers Q3 income rose, despite lower Lipitor sales

Pfizer has reported a double-digit increase in net income for the 2009 third quarter, despite falling cardiovascular pharmaceutical sales.

Revenues were $11.6 billion, a decrease of 3 percent compared with $12 billion in the year-ago quarter—due to the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange of approximately $610 million, or 5 percent. For the third quarter of 2009, U.S. revenues were $4.8 billion, a decrease of 2 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. International revenues were $6.8 billion, a decrease of 4 percent compared with the prior-year quarter, and reflected a 5 percent operational growth and a 9 percent unfavorable impact of foreign exchange. U.S. revenues represented 41 percent of the total, while international revenues represented 59 percent of the total, both comparable with the year-ago quarter.

For third quarter of 2009, the New York City-based Pfizer reported a net income of $2.9 billion, an increase of 26 percent compared with $2.3 billion in the prior-year quarter. The company said its results for the 2009 third quarter compared with the same period in 2008 and were favorably impacted by the non-recurrence of the after-tax charge of $640 million resulting from agreements to resolve certain litigation involving its non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain medicines in the year-ago quarter, lower costs associated with its cost-reduction initiatives and savings generated from those initiatives.

Its pharmaceutical sales for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases were $4.02 billion in worldwide sales for the third quarter of 2009, representing an 11 percent drop from the third quarter of 2008, due to a 14 percent decrease in U.S. sales and a 9 percent decrease in international sales.

Also, the company said its cholesterol-lowering blockbuster Lipitor lost revenues in every market—12 percent drop in the U.S. and 6 percent drop internationally, resulting in a 9 percent drop worldwide.

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