Wyeth Posts 19% Higher Profit; 2 Rivals Fare Less Well

The drug maker Wyeth posted a 19 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday while AstraZeneca reported a 12.5 percent drop in profit and Bristol-Myers Squibb posted a loss, albeit a narrower one.

Bristol-Myers also took a hefty 5 million charge for losses on investments in securities backed by subprime mortgages.

Wyeth, which is based in Madison, N.J., said its revenue rose 10 percent, and higher costs for materials were more than offset by lower spending on sales, administration and research.

The company, which makes Effexor, the world’s top-selling antidepressant, reported net income of .02 billion, or 75 cents a share, in the October-December quarter, up from 5.4 million, or 63 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding an after-tax charge of million, or 3 cents a share, for the company’s three-year-old productivity initiative, net income would have been 78 cents a share. That just missed the 79-cent expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who typically exclude one-time items.

But Wyeth said new generic competition for a key drug would keep total revenue flat this year, as it embarks on a sweeping reorganization.

Bristol-Myers Squibb, which is based in New York, said that fourth-quarter losses narrowed on better sales of a key drug, Plavix.

The company said the charge for its losses on the subprime mortgage securities did not affect liquidity or financial flexibility, but that additional write-downs were possible if economic conditions worsen.

“Obviously if the credit crisis continues to expand across the market, there may be risk to some of our corporate bonds,” said the company’s chief financial officer, Andrew Bonfield.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the New York-based company lost million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a loss of 4 million, or 7 cents a share, a year ago, when sales of Plavix, a blood thinner, plunged.

Including earnings from its recently spun-off medical imaging business, earnings totaled 35 cents a share.

Revenue rose 33 percent, to .38 billion, from .06 billion, as worldwide sales of Plavix nearly tripled to .37 billion. Worldwide pharmaceutical sales increased 39 percent, to .4 billion in the fourth quarter, helped by the weaker dollar.

AstraZeneca, the British drug maker, said fourth-quarter profit fell 12.5 percent, to .27 billion, on restructuring and acquisition costs, as well as falling demand for Nexium and slowing sales growth of its Crestor cholesterol pill. Full-year profits fell 6.5 percent, to .98 billion.

Still, AstraZeneca raised its outlook for 2008, forecasting core earnings of .40 to .70 a share, compared with .38 in 2007.

AstraZeneca said it faced stiff competition in the United States for drugs like Nexium, which treats gastrointestinal problems. It bought MedImmune Inc., based in Gaithersburg, Md., in June for .6 billion to bolster its portfolio. Revenue rose 14 percent over the quarter, to .17 billion, and 7 percent over the year to .56 billion.

Wyeth shares closed down 3 cents, at .67. Bristol-Myers fell 24 cents, to .02, and AstraZeneca rose 8 cents, to .10.

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