US drug giant Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) has trimmed its earnings forecast for the current year by four cents after it announced that it was scrapping the development of cholesterol-lowering treatment.
To compound the news, the company reported an adjusted profit of 61 cents per share for its third quarter which narrowly missed analyst forecasts by one cent.
Pfizer – the largest drug company in the United States – lowered the upper end of its adjusted earnings forecast for this year to US$2.43 from US$2.48, although it maintained the lower end at US$2.38.
In the three months to the end of September, Pfizer’s new breast cancer treatment, Ibrance, generated sales of US$550mln, missing Wall Street expectations of around US$576mln.
Similarly, its Lyrica pain reduction drug also came in short of analyst expectations having recorded sales of US$1.05bn, although its Prevnar vaccine generated US$1.54bn, above market forecasts of US$1.48bn.
It wasn’t such good news for Pfizer’s cholesterol-lowering drug bococizumab, after its development was scrapped because of the “evolving treatment landscape”.
The drug was always going to struggle given that two rival drugs hit the market last summer.
Pfizer’s shares were down a little more than 1% to US$31.28.