Pfizer profit skids on Lipitor loss

US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer on Tuesday reported profit and sales fell in the fourth quarter, hit hard by the loss of exclusivity on its blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor. Pfizer Inc., the world's leading drug maker, posted fourth-quarter net income of $1.4 billion, down 50 percent from the year-ago period. Excluding exceptional items, adjusted earnings were 50 cents per share, topping the average analyst forecast of 47 cents. Fourth-quarter revenue fell to $16.7 billion, down 4.0 percent from the year-ago period. For the full year, Pfizer said net income rose 21 percent from the prior year to $10.0 billion on revenue up 1.0 percent to $67.4 billion. Ian Read, Pfizer's chairman and chief executive, said that 2011 had been a year of setting a new direction for the company. "I am pleased with our 2011 financial performance, which was achieved in the face of a challenging global market and product losses of exclusivity of approximately $5 billion." Pfizer's US patent on the best-selling drug of all-time, the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor, expired on November 30, opening the path to generic competitors for America's most popular medication. Read said the company boosted its research and development efforts, and had a "next wave of compounds that have shown promise" in the pipeline. Lipitor came on the market in 1997, and has raked in some $100 billion for Pfizer even in a crowded market that includes various other cholesterol-lowering statins, many of which have already gone generic. For fourth-quarter 2011, US revenues were $6.3 billion, a decline of 12 percent from a year earlier. The share of US sales in total revenues shrank to 38 percent from 41 percent, while international revenues rose 3.0 percent to $10.4 billion. In 2012, Read said, Pfizer plans to repurchase about $5 billion in common stock under a recently authorized $10 billion buyback program and to pay more than $6 billion in dividends. Pfizer lowered its 2012 earnings and revenue forecasts. The company estimated earnings of $2.20-2.30 per share, from a prior range of $2.25-2.35. Revenue was seen at $60.5-62.5 billion, instead of the $62.2-64.7 previously forecast. Pfizer shares were up 1.3 percent at $21.85 in pre-market trade.