Thursday, October 25, 2012

BMS results crater on 96% drop in Plavix sales - FiercePharma

Bristol-Myers Squibb's ($BMY) third quarter continues the generics-are-poison trend. The company saw sales drop by 30%--yes, 30%--as copycats siphoned off sales from its big-selling blood-pressure drugs Avapro and Avalide, and its even bigger clot-fighting treatment Plavix.

Plavix sales in particular took a spectacular suicidal plunge. The drug faced multiple generics as soon as its U.S. patent expired in May, rather than the usual one or two. So, prices went into free fall, and brand sales plummeted by 96%. The once-mighty drug brought in only $64 million for the quarter, Bristol-Myers said.

The bottom line wasn't pretty either. Bristol-Myers reported a per-share loss of 43 cents, thanks to a one-time hit from a failed hepatitis C progam. The company took a $1.8 billion charge after dumping that in-development drug. Excluding charges, the company would have posted profits of $685 million, or 41 cents per share.

via fiercepharma.com

Posted via email from Jack's posterous

No comments: