Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly both reported increases in second-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday and said they planned to cut more jobs. þþHelped by the weak dollar, both had faster growth in sales overseas but also posted improvements in their United States businesses.þþOn a day when the major stock indexes were down significantly, the drug makers’ shares got little traction despite their fairly strong reports.þþLilly reported double-digit sales growth for crucial drugs and a 44 percent profit increase, but it narrowly missed Wall Street estimates. Investors also seemed worried about the fate of its potential blockbuster heart drug, prasugrel.þþAt Bristol-Myers, James M. Cornelius, the chief executive, told analysts in a conference call that the company planned to cut an additional $1 billion in costs by 2012, when a patent expiration and other factors will cut sales, on top of the $1.5 billion cost-cutting program announced in December.þþBut shares of Bristol-Myers, gained just 23 cents to close at $22.12. Lilly shares edged up 38 cents, to $48.þþLilly reported a second-quarter profit of $958.8 million, or 88 cents a share, compared with $663.6 million, or 61 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time costs for revamping and other items, earnings were 99 cents a share, and revenue increased 11 percent to $5.15 billion.þþAnalysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of $1 a share on revenue of $5.03 billion, without items.þþIn a conference call, analysts peppered Lilly executives with questions about the anticlotting drug prasugrel and other prospective products. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration told the company it needed three more months to review prasugrel, a drug to treat patients with heart attacks, chest pain and related heart problems.þþThe same drug generated discussion among analysts who cover Bristol-Myers, who say that approval of prasugrel could cut into sales of Bristol’s top seller, the blood thinner Plavix. Bristol-Myers executives, however, told the analysts that prasugrel was more of a niche drug, aimed at about 15 percent of the patients now treated by Plavix.þþBristol-Myers had revenue of $5.2 billion, up 16 percent. It reported profit of $764 million, or 38 cents a share, up from $706 million, or 36 cents a share. Excluding special items, the company had income of $903 million, or 43 cents a share.þþAnalysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 40 cents and revenue of $5.09 billion. They typically exclude one-time items.þþ
Source: NY Times
