Forest Laboratories reports net income of $200.60 million for first quarter of fiscal 2007

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Eugene, Ore., July 18 - Forest Laboratories, Inc. reported net income of $200.60 million, or $0.62 per share, on net revenue of $816.34 million for the first quarter of 2007, according to a company news release.

The company reported net income of $216.58 million, or $0.62, on net revenues of $711.77 million in the same period last year, according to the release.

Last year's earnings per share include a gain of $36.4 million due to a one-time tax reversal, according to the release.

The results were stronger than first expected for the quarter, said Kenneth Goodman, chief operating officer, during a company conference call held Tuesday.

"Our underlying business performed very well in the quarter as we saw an increase in prescription volume for all of our key marketed products - Lexapro, Namenda and Benicar - and good underlying volume growth in each product's respective category," Goodman said.

Sales of Lexapro (escitalopram oxalate) for the treatment of depression in adults were $507 million, which was a 10% increase over the previous year, Goodman said.

"Compared to a year ago, we have seen that the adult market has increased its growth rate while the elderly subgroup continues to grow at a rate similar to last year," Goodman said.

Namenda reported sales of $151 million for the quarter, which is a 32% increase over last year, Goodman said. Namenda is Forest's NMDA receptor antagonist for the treatment of moderate and severe Alzheimer's disease.

"The brand has continued to generate increased prescription volume, largely driven by a continued expansion of use in combination with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, improved patient access to the product and a relative increase in prescriptions written by historically low prescribing physicians following the addition of sales force efforts from Combunox," Goodman said.

Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) for hypertension continues to be the fastest growing angiotensin receptor blocker and has also achieved meaningful market share in the past 12 months, he said.

Late stage development

Forest's late-stage development programs also advanced during the first quarter of fiscal 2007, Goodman said Tuesday.

In particular, the company is moving forward with nebivolol for the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure, he said.

Forest is on track to file a New Drug Application for nebivolol for congestive heart failure in 2006, Goodman said.

The company is also conducting an additional preclinical study and a pharmacokinetics study of nebivolol for hypertension.

The results, along with work completed by partner Mylan Laboratories, Inc., will serve as the basis for Forest's response to an approvable letter sent by the Food and Drug Administration last year for nebivolol for hypertension.

"At this point, we are on track to submit the response to the FDA around the end of this calendar year and expect that it will receive a six-month review by the agency," Goodman said.

Forest is a New York-based pharmaceutical company.

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