Pfizer Inc has suffered a setback during the first quarter ended March 2008 primarily due to loss of exclusivity of Norvasc in March 2007 and that of Zyrtec in January 2008. The company's revenues declined by 5 per cent to US $11.8 billion from $12.5 billion in the corresponding period of last year. In the first-quarter 2008, Norvasc and Zyrtec revenues decreased by $556 million and $344 million, respectively, compared with the prior-year quarter. First-quarter 2008 revenues were positively impacted by foreign exchange, which increased revenues by approximately $570 million or 5 per cent, and the solid performance of many new and in-line products.
For the first-quarter 2008, Pfizer posted reported net income of $2.8 billion, a decrease of 18 per cent compared with $3.4 billion in the prior-year quarter, and reported diluted EPS of $0.41, a decrease of 15 per cent compared with $0.48 in the prior-year quarter. These declines were primarily attributable to lower revenues due to the US losses of exclusivity discussed above and, to a lesser extent, increased in-process research and development expenses associated with acquisitions, primarily CovX and Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc., which were partially offset by lower expenses related to our cost-reduction initiatives and foreign exchange.
"Today we are reaffirming our full-year 2008 financial guidance," stated chairman and CEO Jeff Kindler. "As we discussed in our fourth-quarter 2007 earnings call and materials, the first-quarter 2008 is not comparable to the year-ago quarter due to the loss of US exclusivity of Norvasc in late March 2007 and Zyrtec in late January 2008. These results, however, are in-line with our expectations. Since the Norvasc loss of US exclusivity occurred in the first-quarter 2007, the comparisons of our 2008 to 2007 quarterly results going forward will not be significantly impacted".
"This quarter, many of our new products continued to perform well, including Sutent and Chantix. We also saw steady growth from many in-line medicines, including Lyrica, Geodon, Viagra and Xalatan. In addition, our alliance revenues demonstrated double-digit growth. Further, Lipitor remains a powerful global brand supported by extensive outcomes data and it continues to grow on an operational basis in many international markets," continued Kindler.
"We're continuing to make progress on our cost-reduction initiatives and are well on our way to achieving at least a $1.5 to $2.0 billion reduction in adjusted total costs at the end of 2008 versus 2006, on a constant currency basis," said Frank D'Amelio, chief financial officer. "We're on track to generate $17 to $18 billion in operating cash flow in 2008, and we expect to continue to generate strong operating cash flow beyond 2008".