Weak dollar, foreign sales boost drugmakers

TRENTON, N.J. - Profits posted Wednesday by Pfizer Inc. and Wyeth show a common theme among pharmaceutical companies — nearly all the growth they're seeing these days is overseas, driven by emerging markets and the weak dollar.

U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which also reported on its second-quarter earnings Wednesday, likewise is targeting emerging markets. Like most of the industry, the companies are trying to stave off growing competition from cheaper generics, which is being magnified by government and other payers seeking to hold down health spending.

It's been much the same at other major drug makers issuing quarterly reports the last two weeks.

Favorable currency exchange rates boosted revenue by 5 percent for Merck & Co. and by 7.6 percent for Schering-Plough Corp. Schering also noted that about 70 percent of its sales came from outside the country. And both Wyeth and Johnson & Johnson, which reported last week, for the first time even had more sales come from overseas than the United States.

"Everything we're seeing now in the pharmaceutical industry has to do with three things — one, the weak value of the dollar; two, the literal cutting-to-the-bone of expenses, which cannot have any positive effect on morale, and three, increased foreign sales," said analyst Steve Brozak of WBB Securities.

"What foreign exchange giveth, foreign exchange will eventually take it away," he said, adding that excessive cost-cutting could stifle innovation and all the industry's problems could lead to a crash of share prices, which already are very low.

Still, Pfizer and Wyeth both beat Wall Street expectations enough to buoy their shares, with Pfizer up 3.9 percent at $19.07 and Wyeth up 2 percent to close at $45.55. GlaxoSmithKline's edged up 0.2 percent to end at $48.66.

New York-based Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, said its profit more than doubled due to the exchange-rate benefit, sharply higher foreign sales and lower restructuring charges. It posted net income of $2.78 billion, or 41 cents per share, compared with $1.27 billion, or 18 cents, a year ago.

Excluding $930 million in charges, profit totaled $3.7 billion, or 55 cents per share, a penny more than forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who expected $11.46 billion in revenue.

Sales rose 9 percent — 7 percent from exchange rates — to $12.13 billion.

Pfizer Chief Executive Jeff Kindler told The Associated Press in an interview that his company is pursuing more revenue in emerging markets in Latin America, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, where analysts see an $80 billion opportunity through 2012 to expand sales of established products.

"In these markets, brand is very important, and physicians and patients will often prefer a branded product to an unbranded product" that's cheaper, he said. "That's the fastest-growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry," and the Pfizer name, its brands and its established presence should enable the company to grab a big chunk of those new sales.

Among other strategies, Pfizer is expanding the places where its sales representatives operate in some countries, from 110 cities in China at the beginning of the year to 137 by year's end, for example.

Likewise, it plans within a few years to launch its smoking-cessation drug Chantix in nine countries with large populations of smokers, including China, Russia and Turkey. Chantix sales, cut in the U.S. by strengthened warnings about suicidal behavior, edged up 3 percent overall to $207 million in the quarter on strong international growth.

Sales of cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug, increased 9 percent to $3 billion, and sales were up by double digits for painkiller Celebrex and nerve-pain treatment Lyrica.

Wyeth, based in Madison, N.J., said its profit fell 6.3 percent on charges for severance and other costs related to ongoing job cuts, but the drug developer still raised its full-year outlook.

The company's profit fell to $1.12 billion, or 83 cents per share, compared with $1.2 billion, or 87 cents, a year earlier. Excluding charges for work force reductions, the company said it earned 91 cents per share — 4 cents more than expected. Revenue rose 5 percent to $5.95 billion, also above expectations.

GlaxoSmithKline, the world's No. 2 drugmaker, posted a 3 percent drop in profit, after strong competition from generic drugs outweighed asset sales and cost savings from job cuts.

Glaxo reported that profit fell to 1.29 billion pounds ($2.6 billion). Revenue rose 3.5 percent to 5.9 billion pounds ($11.8 billion).

As rising generic sales continue to eat away at its profits, Glaxo unveiled plans to shake up its strategy and grab a share of the generics market itself, announcing an alliance with South African company Aspen Pharmacare Holdings.

But the company said it continues to expect a mid-single-digit decline in earnings per share for the full year, at constant exchange rates.

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