Drug giant Pfizer Inc., with R&D operations in Groton, said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profits were cut in half thanks to sinking revenues as the company copes with its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor losing patent protection, The Associated Press reports.
The company said its net income for the quarter ending Dec. 31 was $1.44 billion, or 19 cents per share, down from $2.89 billion, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue was $16.7 billion, down from $17.4 billion in 2010’s fourth quarter.
The results beat Wall Street expectations, but the drugmaker trimmed its full-year earnings outlook.
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The company forecast 2012 earnings per share of $2.20 to $2.30, down a nickel from its last forecast.
Patent losses cost the company $5 billion, CEO Ian Read said.
While Pfizer now has generic competition to several former blockbusters, the key hit was to Lipitor, whose U.S. patent expiration Nov. 30 was the most closely watched event in the industry last year. With just a month left in the quarter after that, Lipitor sales still fell 42% in the U.S. and 24% worldwide.
