Sales, profit improve for 3 drugmakers

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Rising product sales helped three big drugmakers — Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Roche Holding AG and Eli Lilly and Co. — post better second-quarter results on Thursday.

The three Top 20 pharmaceutical companies also confirmed or raised their 2010 profit forecasts, a move to reassure investors worried about the impact of the U.S. health care overhaul, the European economic crisis, shifting currency exchange rates and looming generic competition.

“Overall I thought it was a pretty good performance for the sector considering all the spooks we had going into the quarter,” Standard & Poor’s analyst Herman Saftlas said, citing the first three factors. “It looks like these companies really exceeded expectations, certainly Lilly in a major way.”

Despite that, the three drugmakers — Lilly’s, Roche and Bristol-Myers — each saw their share prices rise only 1 percent or less, less than the broader U.S. markets.

“Numbers have come in pretty much as expected or better than expected,” said Edward Jones analyst Linda Bannister.

Tags: us business, business, trenton, pharmaceutical, drug