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PFE: 2Q08 Chantix Sales Sag on Safety Concerns

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2340805220080723

›Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:44am EDT

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Wednesday said quarterly earnings more than doubled on higher sales of its prescription drugs and lower expenses, but its Chantix quit-smoking drug lost more than a third of its U.S. sales amid safety concerns.

The company earned $2.78 billion, or 41 cents per share, in the second quarter. That compared with $1.27 billion, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier, when Pfizer took large charges for restructuring and merger-related costs. Excluding special items, Pfizer earned 55 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 54 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Company revenue rose 9 percent to $12.13 billion, but would have increased only 2 percent if not for the weak dollar, which boosts the value of overseas sales when converted back into U.S. currency.

Pfizer's U.S. sales fell 2 percent, hurt by waning demand for Chantix, a new medicine that Pfizer has been counting on to drive earnings growth in coming years, and loss of patent protection on allergy drug Zyrtec and cancer drug Camptosar.

The world's largest drugmaker reaffirmed it expects earnings this year to grow as much as 11 percent, due largely to a cost-cutting program that has cut 25,000 jobs, or 23 percent of the company's work force, since late 2004. It said the company is on track to reduce costs by the end of the year at least $1.5 billion to $2 billion, compared with 2006.‹