Drugmakers see pain from reform and prices in 2011

Drugmakers AstraZeneca, Novartis and Eli Lilly set a cautious tone for 2011, bracing the sector for challenging patent expiries and price pressures from U.S. health reforms.

While AstraZeneca cheered investors with above-forecast fourth quarter earnings on Thursday and a surprise promise to buy back $4 billion of shares, it joined its Swiss rival in warning of pressure from generics, U.S. reforms and price cuts.

The earnings come after diversified healthcare group Johnson & Johnson kicked off the big pharma season by posting disappointing sales and cautioning it was facing growing pressure from governments and insurers to keep a lid on prices.

Bristol Myers Squibb will provide more clues on the health of the sector when it reports later on Thursday.

Novartis, the first European drugmaker to report in this earnings season, missed forecasts with a 10 percent drop in fourth quarter core earnings per share (EPS) and said it expected sales for 2011 to be lower.

Figures from both Astra and Novartis were dampened compared with 2010, when profits were boosted by windfalls sales of H1N1 flu vaccines.

"If you look at what we're facing in 2011, we have more headwinds than we did in 2010," Novartis chief executive Joe Jimenez said. "We don't have the benefit of H1N1 and we've got more cost containment coming from the U.S. as some of the healthcare reform costs kick in."

Shares in Novartis suffered, trading 2 percent lower at 1118 GMT. Astra's buyback news and above forecast EPS of $1.39, boosted its stock by around 2 percent.


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