By Caroline Humer and Ransdell Pierson
Jan 29 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co said on Tuesday that
fourth-quarter profit fell as competition from generic drugs,
particularly for its once top-selling schizophrenia drug
Zyprexa, drove revenue lower.
The U.S. drugmaker earned $827 million, or 74 cents per
share, down from $858 million, or 77 cents per share, a year
earlier.
Excluding special items such as asset impairments and
restructuring, Lilly earned 85 cents per share, beating
analysts' expectations by 7 cents per share.
The better-than-expected results were due to cost controls
as well as strong sales of key drugs, such as lung cancer
treatment Alimta and antidepressant Cymbalta, Lilly spokesman Ed
Sagabiel said.
Revenue dropped by about 1 percent to $5.96 billion, but
were above Wall Street expectations of $5.81 billion.
Zyprexa, now facing generic competition, saw sales slide 49
percent to $385 million from $750 million a year earlier. The
company said the sharp drop was partly offset by gains in sales
of other drugs and its animal health products.
Lilly forecast earning would increase this year by 13
percent to 17 percent to $3.82 to $3.97 per share, excluding
special items, due to cost controls.
Profit will benefit by 7 cents per share due to a research
and development tax credit that was delayed until this year due
to the late signing of federal legislation.
On Jan. 4 the company forecast earnings of $3.75 to $3.90
per share, but that did not include the tax benefit.
It predicted sales will be flat to a bit higher this year,
in a range of $22.6 billion to $23.4 billion, despite expected
generic competition in December for its $5-billion-a-year
Cymbalta.
Lilly has been battered over the past year by generic forms
of Zyprexa. Besides the looming threat from Cymbalta generics,
it is girding for copycat forms of its $1 billion-a-year Evista
osteoporosis drug that are due to arrive in early 2014.
Cymbalta had sales of $1.42 billion in the fourth quarter,
up 20 percent from a year earlier, and a total of $4.99 billion
in 2012.
The company hopes to cushion the blow from generics with
approvals of some of its 13 experimental drugs now in late-stage
trials.
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