Pfizer has suffered setback during the third quarter ended September 2012 primarily due to loss of exclusivity of Lipitor in developed Europe and the unfavourable impact of foreign exchange. Its net profit declined by 14 per cent to $3,208 million from $3,738 million in the corresponding period of last year. Its revenues also decreased by 16 per cent to $13,976 million from $16,609 million. With fall in profits, earnings per share nosedived to $0.43 from $0.48 in the last period.

The company's US revenues declined by 18 per cent to $5,627 million from $6,879 million with the loss of exclusivity of Lipitor in November 2011. Its international revenues went down by 14 per cent to $8,349 million from $9,730 million. US revenues represented 40 per cent of total revenues in third quarter compared with 41 per cent in the year ago quarter, while international revenues represented 60 per cent of total revenues as compared with 59 per cent in the last period. Lipitor sales declined 71.1 per cent to $749 million from $2,602 million and that of Enbrel (outside the US and Canada) by 6.7 per cent to $893 million from $957 million.

Primary care unit revenues decreased by 39.3 per cent to $3,610 million from $5,948 million. The impact of these decline was slightly offset by continued strong operation growth of Lyrica and Celebrex in developed market and Viagra in the US. The revenues of specialty care unit by 10 per cent to $3,406 million from $3,799 million due to decline in the Prevnar/Prevenar franchise in US and Europe and loss of exclusivity of Xalatan in developed Europe and Geodon in the US. Its revenues from established product unit increased by 7 per cent to $2,383 million from $2,230 million.

Ian Read, chairman and CEO, stated, “Overall, our results this quarter reflect continued product losses of exclusivity, most notably Lipitor in all major markets. Despite a challenging and dynamic environment, worldwide revenues from many of our key medicines, including Enbrel, Celebrex and Lyrica, continued to grow operationally. Additionally, we continued to perform well in emerging markets, most notably in China, given the breadth of our portfolio and focused investment.”

Frank D'Amelio, chief financial officer, said, “Given our financial performance to date, we are narrowing the ranges for certain components of our 2012 financial guidance. Further, the board of directors has authorized a new $10 billion share repurchase program to be utilized over time, upon the sale of the nutrition business to Nestle, which we now expect to close in the next few months. So far this year, we have repurchased approximately $5.9 billion of our common stock.”

For the first nine months ended September 2012, Pfizer's revenues declined by 11per cent to 43,918 million from $49,118 million in the similar period of last year. Its net income went down by 4 per cent to $8,255 million from $8,570 million. Worldwide revenues of Lipitor declined sharply by 55.6 per cent to $3,364 million from $7,578 million. Similarly, revenues of Prevenar13 declined by 3.5 per cent to $2,725 million from $2,823 million during the same period of last year. However, the sales of Lyrica improved by 7.8 per cent to $1,036 million from $961 million.