Pfizer has posted strong growth during the third quarter ended September 2011 on account of sale of the Capsugel business during August 2011. Its net income went up to $3,738 million from $866 million in the corresponding period of last year due to gain of $1,328 million from sale of the Capsugel business. Its revenues increased by 7 per cent to $17.2 billion from $16 billion.

For the third-quarter ended September 2011, Pfizer's US revenues declined by 3 per cent to $6.9 billion and its international business improved by 15 per cent to $10.3 billion. US revenues represented 40 per cent of total revenues in as compared to 44 per cent in the year-ago quarter, while international revenues represented 60 per cent of total revenues compared with 56 per cent in the same period of last year.

The revenues of Primary Care units improved by 5 per cent to $5,948 million from $5,653 million. Primary Care unit revenues in third-quarter 2011 were favourably impacted primarily by foreign exchange, growth from Lipitor in the US and from Celebrex, Lyrica, Pristiq and Spiriva, among others, and the addition of $119 million, or 2 per cent, from legacy King products, while negatively impacted by the loss of exclusivity of Aricept in the US in November 2010 as well as the loss of exclusivity of Lipitor in Canada and Spain in May and July 2010, respectively.

Specialty Care unit revenues improved by 2 per cent to $3,799 million from $3,717 million and were positively impacted by foreign exchange and strong growth in the Prevenar franchise and Enbrel in most international markets.

Emerging Markets unit revenues went up sharply by 18 per cent to $2,438 million from $2,072 million were positively impacted by foreign exchange and growth in certain key innovative brands, primarily the Prevenar franchise, Celebrex, Enbrel, Lyrica, Vfend and Zyvox, notably with double-digit operational growth in China, Russia, Turkey and India.

Established Products unit revenues improved only by 3 per cent to $2,230 million from $2,168 million were mainly impacted by the loss of exclusivity of Protonix and Zosyn in the US, which taken together reduced Established Products unit revenues by $242 million, or 11 per cent, in comparison with third-quarter 2010. Animal Health unit revenues increased by 21 per cent to $1,041 million from $860 million in the corresponding period of last year.

Ian Read, president and CEO, stated, “Overall, I am very pleased with our financial performance despite the impact of product losses of exclusivity totaling approximately $950 million this quarter and the challenges posed by current global market and economic conditions. Excluding the impact of product losses of exclusivity, all of our businesses generated revenue growth while effectively managing their cost structures. Notably, in our Emerging Markets business, I am pleased that both our innovative and established product portfolios continued to perform well, largely as a result of our targeted investments despite a volatile environment. Further, in Japan, our second largest market, we generated 19% operational growth enterprise-wide. I am also happy with the strong performance of the Lipitor franchise and our ability to continue to maximize the value of this brand prior to its loss of exclusivity in the US. We remain well prepared for the Lipitor US loss of exclusivity later this month and in various other countries shortly thereafter.”

Frank D’Amelio, chief financial officer, stated, “Given our solid performance so far this year, our continued confidence in the business within the current environment and our financial flexibility, we are narrowing the range of many of our 2011 financial guidance components and reaffirming our 2012 financial targets. Notably, we are increasing our 2011 adjusted diluted EPS(1) guidance range, resulting in an updated range of $2.24 to $2.29. Additionally, we returned approximately $3.6 billion to our shareholders during the quarter through $1.5 billion in dividends and $2.1 billion from the repurchase of 112.9 billion shares. So far in 2011, we have repurchased $6.5 billion, or 331.6 million of our shares, and we now anticipate repurchasing between $7 billion and $9 billion of our common stock this year. In total, we have returned approximately $11.2 billion to our shareholders this year through dividends and share repurchases.”

For the first nine months ended September 2011, Pfizer's revenues increased to $50.7 billion from $49.7 billion in the similar period of last year, a growth of 2 per cent. Its net income touched to $8.6 billion from $5.4 billion.