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news.Bristol-Myers Squibb has said that its third quarter earnings have fallen as key drugs in its pipeline are facing increasingly strong generic competition.
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The company reported third quarter 2006 net earnings from continuing operations of $338 million, compared to $964 million, for the same period in 2005.
Bristol-Myers Squibb said the decrease in earnings in 2006 was mainly due to the loss of exclusivity on Pravachol and generic competition to the blood clotting drug Plavix.
The expiration of the Pravachol patent led to sales of the cholesterol lowering drug falling by 64%.
Our other major products continue to demonstrate robust, double-digit sales growth and the launches of our new products, Sprycel, Orencia and Baraclude are on track, said Jim Cornelius, CEO, Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Bristol-Myers Squibb had previously reported that Apotex had launched a generic version of Plavix called clopidogrel bisulfate in August 2006. On August 31 a federal court granted a preliminary injunction enjoining further sales of Apotex’s generic product. The launch of generic clopidogrel bisulfate had a significant adverse effect on sales in the third quarter, which the company estimates to be in the range of $525 million to $600 million.
Bristol-Myers said it expects remaining US supplies of the generic form of Plavix to be exhausted by the first quarter of 2007.