Pfizer Inc., a world leader in the pharmaceutical segment, has achieved projected performance during the year ended December 2006. The company's revenues touched to US$ 48,371 million as compared to $ 47,405 million in the previous year, registering a growth of 2 per cent. The net income went up sharply by 139 per cent to $19,337 million from $ 8,085 million. Its reported diluted EPS worked out to $2.66 as compared to $1.09 in the preceding year.
The pharmaceutical sales reached at $45,083 million during the year ended December 2006 from $44,269 million in the previous year. Pharmaceutical sales in US improved by 4.4 per cent to $24503 million from $23,471 million. The international pharmaceutical sales however, declined by one per cent to $20,580 million from $20,798 million. Pfizer's world leading product - Lipitor registered a growth of 5.7 per cent at $12,886 million as against $12,187 million in 2005.
The company has focused on the top-line growth of key in-line medicines, including lipitor, celebrex, lyrica, and geodon, and it launched sutent, eraxis, chantix and exubera in the US. Pfizer's R&D expenditure went up by 4.7 per cent to $7599 million from $7,256 million in the previous year.
Jeffrey B Kindler, chairman and CEO, said, "In the face of many challenges in 2006, we substantially achieved a number of financial targets that we set early in the year. We took decisive action and delivered solid performance despite challenges, including the significant revenue impact due to the loss of exclusivity of Zithromax and Zolooft in the US. We achieved revenue growth of 2 per cent for the year. We delivered adjusted diluted EPS of $2.06, in line with our upwardly revised guidance.
``Our decision to discontinue development of torcetrapib/atorvastatin in early December 2006 was disappointing and brought into sharper focus the need to transform Pfizer over time to succeed in a dynamic healthcare marketplace." Kindler added.