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US patent problems damage Glaxo health
22 Apr 2009The UK's biggest pharmaceuticals firm, GlaxoSmithKline, today blamed competition from American generic drugs as its first-quarter pre-tax profit fell 1.5% to £1.93 billion.
With huge sales to the US, the pharma giant saw its results flattered by the weak pound, but the underlying picture was less healthy.
Pre-tax profits, taking out currency benefits, plunged 31% as it was hurt by big drugs falling out of patent. Glaxo's epilepsy treatment Lamictal, antidepressant Wellbutrin and Requip, for restless legs, faced generic competition for the first time in the quarter.
Glaxo, which this week bought American skincare specialist Stiefel Laboratories for £2.5 billion, also wrote off £115 million on research and development.
The results missed City expectations. Savvas Neophytou, a pharma analyst at Panmure Gordon, said: “The pound's weakness was the silver lining of a very dark cloud for GSK.”
