Pfizer's Net Jumps 38% on Strong Sales Of Blockbuster Cholesterol Drug Lipitor

By Scott Hensley
The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2002

The earnings juggernaut at Pfizer Inc., the world's largest pharmaceuticals company, kept powering forward in the fourth quarter, driven by torrid growth of cholesterol-fighter Lipitor.

The New York-based company said net income rose 38% in the quarter to $1.96 billion, or 30 cents a share, compared with $1.42 billion, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 12% to $9.03 billion from $8.05 billion.

Unlike many of its rivals, Pfizer's portfolio of medicines has been largely untouched by patent expirations and is likely to remain intact for several years. And eight separate medicines at Pfizer generated more than $1 billion each in revenue during 2001.

In the U.S., sales of drugs for human use rose 14% to $4.77 billion for the quarter, while international sales grew 15% to $2.46 billion. Sales of Lipitor, Pfizer's biggest seller, leaped 31% for the quarter to $1.88 billion. For the year, Lipitor sales surged 28% to $6.45 billion. Other standouts for the quarter included antihypertensive Norvasc, with sales of $962 million, antidepressant Zoloft with sales of $646 million and epilepsy treatment Neurontin with sales of $498 million-.

"Pfizer's business fundamentals have never been better," Henry McKinnell, chairman and chief executive, said in a conference call.

At 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Wednesday, Pfizer shares were up $1 to $41.80.

Karen Katen, president of Pfizer's human pharmaceuticals group, said Lipitor "still has enormous room to grow." Pfizer believes doctors' familiarity with Lipitor and the widespread underdiagnosis of high cholesterol will keep sales of the drug growing robustly despite looming competition from AstraZeneca PLC's statin Crestor, which is expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration later this year.