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Eli Lilly and Co. said first-quarter profit climbed 18 percent after one-time items, fueled by brisk sales of new products for diabetes, psoriasis and other diseases.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker posted earnings before one-time expenses of $1.04 billion, or 98 cents a share, beating Wall Street's consensus by 2 cents.
Revenue was $5.23 billion, up 7 percent from a year ago. The company said it enjoyed a strong quarter of "volume-driven growth," which it attributed partly to the launch of the diabetes drug Trulicity, the psoriasis drug Taltz and other new products.
"We achieved this growth while maintaining our commitment to expand margins and improve productivity,” Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said in a statement.
Sales of some older products continued to tumble, including the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (down 7 percent), the cancer drug Alimta (down 13 percent), the diabetes drug Humulin (down 12 percent) and the antidepressant Cymbalta (down 12 percent).
After one-time expenses, Lilly posted a loss of $110.8 million, or 10 cents a share. The special expenses included $858 million for the acquisition of CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, $214 million for severance costs related to the layoffs of hundreds of workers, and integration expenses related to the $5.4 billion acquisition of Novartis Animal Health.
The company trimmed full-year earnings guidance by about a dime a share. The new guidance is in the range of $2.60 to $2.70, down from $2.69 to $2.79 in January.
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