Leading US drugmaker Pfizer racked up its biggest miss on sales in a year in the first quarter, hurt by lower than expected sales of blockbuster breast cancer drug Ibrance and arthritis drug Xeljanz.
Pfizer said that Ibrance had raked in sales of $933m in the first quarter, up 37.4% from a year earlier but missing analysts' estimates of $956.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters.
That likely reflects strong competition from Novartis' Kisqali and Lilly's recently approved Verzenio.
Xeljanz, which is approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, posted sales of $326m, well below $398.5m expected by analysts.
Pfizer, which is exploring options for a consumer healthcare business that some estimates value at $20 billion, said it expected to make a decision in 2018 on any sale of a business which includes Centrum vitamins and Advil painkillers.
Quarterly profit topped Wall Street estimates on stronger-than-expected sales of pneumonia vaccine Prevnar and the company also reaffirmed its 2018 forecast.
Net profit rose to $3.56 billion, or 59 cents per share, in the latest quarter ended April 1 from $3.12 billion, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 77 cents per share, topping estimates of 74 cents.
Total revenue rose 1% to $12.91 billion, while analysts were expecting $13.13 billion.
The company employees about 3,200 people in six sites in Ireland, including plants in Cork, Dublin and Newbridge, Co Kildare.
