Pretax profits fall at pharma giant

Pretax profits at the main Irish subsidiary of US-owned pharmaceutical firm Forest Laboratories last year declined 85 per cent from $626.5 million to $89.9 million. This came as revenues at Dublin-based Forest Laboratories Holdings fell 22 per cent from $2.73 billion to $2.13 billion, according to accounts just filed with the Companies Office.

The Dublin-based company is the licence-holder to manufacture and distribute certain Forest Laboratories’ pharmaceutical products in the US. The $2.1 billion in revenues generated by the Dublin unit accounted for 68 per cent of the company’s global revenues of $3.12 billion in the year to the end of March.

Sales dropped at the firm last year after the company’s exclusive patent on Lexapro, which is used in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) expired.

Globally, Forest Laboratories employs 5,800. The numbers employed by the Dublin- based subsidiary increased from 322 to 333 last year, with staff costs increasing from $26.4 million to $28.7 million.

The decrease in profits is attributable to the firm’s cost of sales decreasing only marginally from €2.11 billion to €2.05 billion in spite of the sharp drop in sales. Operating profits decreased from $617 million to $75.5 million in the year.

The company paid $44.7 million in taxes on its $89.9 million profits.

The firm launched two additional products, Tudorza and Namenda XR.