By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Wyeth
Earnings were also helped by a significantly lower tax rate and lower cost of goods sold, a factor that has helped other drugmakers during the quarter and which is sometimes linked to the stronger dollar.
Sales of the anti-depressant Effexor, one of Wyeth's top drugs, tumbled 20 percent to $819 million on competition from rival drugs and concerns that such medicines increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.
The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.2 billion, or 89 cents per share, unchanged from year-earlier results.
Excluding special charges, profit was 95 cents per share. On that basis, analysts on average expected 89 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue fell 6 percent to $5.38 billion, about $150 million below the Reuters Estimates forecast. Wyeth said revenue would have risen 2 percentage points if not for the stronger dollar.
Wyeth, which has agreed to be acquired by Pfizer Inc
The magnitude of the Effexor sales decline was far greater than the 3 percent drop seen in the prior quarter.
Sales of rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel rose 3 percent to $627 million outside the United States and Canada, half the growth rate seen in the prior quarter.
Wyeth's share of revenue for Enbrel in North America -- from an alliance with Amgen Inc
Global revenue from Prevnar, a vaccine to protect children from infections with pneumococcal bacteria, rose 7 percent to $755 million.
Sales of nutritional products rose 1 percent to $415 million.
Wyeth shares were little changed in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; editing by John Wallace)
