Bristol-Myers Squibb has posted net income of $645 million for the fourth quarter, up almost 9%, but revenues fell 23%, battered by generic competition to the bloodthinner blockbuster Plavix.
Group sales reached $4.19 billion, with Plavix (clopidogrel) collapsing 97% to just $49 million. The drug lost patent protection in USA in May, two months after generics of the antihypertensive Avapro (irbesartan) were approved across the pond. The latter drug's sales fell 57% to $84 million.
Sales of the antipsychotic Abilify (aripiprazole) rose 11% to $819 million and as for the firm's HIV drugs, the Sustiva (efavirenz) franchise decreased 7% to $383 million, and Reyataz (atazanavir) was down 5% to $394 million. Revenues from Baraclude (entecavir) for hepatitis B climbed 22% to $357 million.
Sprycel (dasatanib) for leukaemia leapt 24% to $281 million, while Orencia (abatacept) for rheumatoid arthritis increased 26% to $325 million. The cancer agent Erbitux (cetuximab) fell 6% to $171 million, while the melanoma drug Yervoy (ipilimumab) soared 47% to $211 million. The diabetes drugs Onglyza (saxagliptin) and Kombiglyze (saxagliptin/metformin) together delivered $198 million, up 29%.
Chief executive Lamberto Andreotti said that the company ended "an important year of transition” strongly with regulatory approvals for the oral anticoagulant Eliquis (apixaban) and the diabetes drug Forxiga (dapagliflozin). He added that in 2012, B-MS "continued to build the post-Plavix portfolio and operating structure that provide a solid foundation for our future growth".
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