Wednesday morning, drug company Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) delivered second-quarter results in line with its positive pre-announcement. Sales climbed 12% (10% in constant currency), and net income topped that number with 18% growth. Pharmaceutical sales, accounting for 80% of total sales, climbed 14%, while consumer health and animal health posted very low single-digit growth on an as-reported basis.
On a drug-by-drug basis, there weren't any real surprises. The company's depression-fighting drug Effexor grew 7% in the quarter and made up nearly 20% of the company's total revenue. Sales of the vaccine Prevnar and arthritis treatment Enbrel were both quite strong in the quarter, growing 48% and 75%, respectively. Both stomach-acid regulator Protonix and hormone drug Premarin recovered with double-digit sales growth in the quarter.
Another positive note comes from the recent approval of Tygacil. The Food and Drug Administration approved this drug six months after its submission, and the commercial launch is under way. Not only is Tygacil a first-in-class treatment for some really nasty infections, but it also has a convenient dosing regimen and can be used as a broad-spectrum treatment even when the specific bacterial culprits haven't been identified.
While Wyeth executives didn't raise company guidance with this report, they did suggest that business was still quite strong. Whether Wyeth's optimism amounts to "shadow guidance" upwards or not, it would seem that the company has turned the corner with respect to its business performance.
Having climbed by more than 30% in the past year and currently sitting at a new high, these shares don't look especially cheap relative to other large pharmaceutical companies, such as Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) or Motley Fool Income Investor selection Merck (NYSE:MRK). Of course, you could counter that by saying that Wyeth has largely put its problems behind and that business should continue to improve -- something that's not necessarily true for Pfizer or Merck in the next year or two.
Why not check out more Foolish Takes on the pharmaceutical industry?
Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).
