Drugmaker Eli Lilly reports 4Q profit, sales jump

[January 28, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co. says it turned a fourth-quarter profit after recording a loss in 2008 following the buyout of cancer drug maker ImClone Systems Inc.

The Indianapolis company earned $915.4 million, or 83 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compares to a loss of $3.63 billion, or $3.31 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up 14 percent to $5.93 billion.

Excluding charges, Lilly earned 91 cents per share.

On that basis, analysts forecast earnings per share of 92 cents for the quarter on $5.67 billion in revenue.

Sales of its top-selling drug, the antipsychotic Zyprexa, climbed 19 percent to $1.37 billion, while the second-best seller, the antidepressant Cymbalta, saw sales rise 15 percent to $830.8 million.

[Associated Press]

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