Wyeth, which employs 3,000 people in Ireland, said its quarterly profit fell because it had a big one-time gain a year ago, although sales of its drugs for depression and arthritis have soared, boosting the company's stock nearly 4 per cent.

The New Jersey-based company said net profit fell 4.3 per cent to $827.3 million (€672.4) or 62 cents a share from $864 million or 65 cents a share a year ago, when it had a gain of $290 million from the divestiture of some smaller products.

The decline was less severe than analysts had expected. They had forecast earnings of 59 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 13 per cent to $4.2 billion, or up 11 per cent excluding the effect of foreign currency exchange rates.

Sales of the company's depression drug, Effexor, rose 31 per cent to $831.8 million, while sales of arthritis drug Enbrel, for which Wyeth has rights outside of North America, more than doubled to $156 million.

However, Prevnar, its vaccine against pneumonia, has experienced manufacturing problems and sales in the quarter declined 17 per cent to $219.2 million.

Wyeth is now the largest pharmaceutical employer in Ireland, with sites in Askeaton, Sligo, Newbridge and Grange Castle. The new $1.5 billion biopharmaceutical campus at Grange Castle, Clondalkin, is complete and has 1,000 full-time employees. It is in the early stages of manufacture of Enbrel.

Wyeth has taken more than $16 billion in charges to cover potential liability to former users of its two diet drugs that were once used in the "fen-phen" slimming cocktail and which have been linked to heart damage.

Wyeth reaffirmed it expects 2004 earnings of $2.60-$2.70 a share, representing earnings growth of 4.8-8.8 per cent.

Wyeth's shares rose 92 cents or 2.7 per cent to $35.18 in mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.