Pfizer continued to suffer from generic exposure on its former cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor in Q1 2012 after overall sales and earnings both dropped.

Reported revenues fell 7% to $15.4bn and net income decreased by nearly a fifth (19%) after sales of Lipitor fell by almost half (42%) to just under $1.4 billion.

Ian Read, Pfizer Chairman and CEO, said he was “pleased” with the results after witnessing growth in “certain brands” and “key geographies”.

Biopharmaceutical sales decreased 8% to just over $13bn as revenue for Lipitor in the US dropped by nearly three-quarters (71%) to $383 million.

Sales of Prevenar 13 dropped by 6% to $941m, Xalatan fell by 42% to $227m with Novasc also recording a fall in revenue by 6%, compared to the same period last year.

The news was better for Lyrica up 16% to $955m, whilst Enbrel earned $899 million outside the US and Viagra generated a 6% rise in sales to earn $496m.

As a result of the losses, Pfizer has adjusted its revenue guidance for the full year from $60.5-$62.5 billion to $58-$60 billion.

Frank D’Amelio, Chief Financial Officer, said the adjustment reflects Pfizer’s recent $11.58 deal with Nestlé for its nutrition business. He commented: “We remain on-track to finalise a strategic decision for our Animal Health business this year and continue to expect that any separation of that business will occur between July 2012 and July 2013.

“Further, this quarter we continued to prudently allocate our capital by returning over $3.3 billion to our shareholders in first-quarter 2012, through $1.6 billion in dividends and $1.7 billion from the repurchase of 77 million shares.”

Merck (MSD outside the US) topped the job-cutting charts in 2011 as the industry witnessed another year of workforce reductions after a series of cost-cutting measures from a number of pharma giants.

Merck revealed plans in July to reduce its workforce by 12,000 to 13,000 following its merger in 2009 and to realign expenses with the expected reduction in revenue when Singulair loses its exclusivity in August, in an attempt to save $1.5billion.

Pfizer followed Merck after it after cut thousands of jobs after planning to close R&D plants in Sandwich, Kent, at a cost of around 2,400 jobs and in Connecticut accounting for a further 1,100 positions. An additional 500 employees in Germany and 220 in Spain have also reportedly been axed.

The world’s largest research-based pharma company aims to cut its R&D budget by $1.5 billion after realigning its investigational priorities and following the loss of exclusivity on its blockbuster drug Lipitor.

Novartis came third when wielding the axe after it revealed plans to reduce its workforce by 2,000 in an attempt to save $200 million a year. Workers were relieved of their duties at sites across Europe and reportedly in New Jersey. However, the company did invest somewhere in the region of $600 on a new R&D facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Abbott Laboratories followed in fourth position after it revealed at the start of last year that it would tackle the challenging regulatory environment by cutting 1,900 employees, or 6% of its staff. Further upheaval is also expected in 2012 when the company completes its breakup of the company into one focused pharmaceutical business and one solely for medical products.

AstraZeneca completed the top-five after it shed more than 1,500 positions in the US and Europe last year as it braced itself for the expiration of patents on brands on Seroquel by reducing its American sales team by nearly a quarter. The London-based company did however increase its presence in the emerging Chinese market.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, Eisai and Bayer Healthcare completed the top-ten companies for job losses as the industry struggled to compensate for major brand patent expiries, a challenging healthcare environment and a need to align expenses with growth targets.

Sanofi is expected to overthrow Pfizer’s nine-year reign as the world’s biggest drug maker, according to new research.

The French pharmaceutical company is expected to retain the top spot until at least 2016, with Pfizer falling to third place behind Novartis due to the loss of Lipitor’s US patent protection, according to EvaluatePharma (see figure one).

The report says that Sanofi’s numerous acquisitions over the last decade have contributed largely to the company’s success, gaining $20 billion after it bought out Genzyme.

Sanofi’s mergers over the last decade have contributed a great deal to its current position, starting with its $30 billion deal with Synthélabo in 1999.

It is expected that the company will retain its top position until at least 2016, mainly thanks to sales of enzyme replacement therapies through its acquisition of Genzyme.

Also, the company’s addition of Cerezyme and Myozyme blockbuster drugs will help fill the gap left by Lovenox, Taxotere, and Plavix, which loses US patent protection in 2012.

Pfizer’s $68 billion buyout of Wyeth in 2009 helped fill the gap left by Lipitor, but it will be difficult to replace the drug’s global sales figure of $13.4 billion seen in 2008, which set the record as the biggest selling medicine.

Following its loss of US patent protection in November 2011, Lipitor sales are estimated to shrink to $2 billion by 2016.

However, pipeline products such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pills tofacitinib and Eliquis are expected to boost Pfizer’s drug sales after 2016, which will help retain the company’s position in the top-five pharmaceutical companies.

Merck’s four-year outlook is seen as bleak despite its takeover of Schering-Plough for $41 billion in 2009, with only 1% annual sales growth predicted, conceding to European companies GlaxoSmithKline and Roche to overtake the company.

EvaluatePharma predicts that Johnson & Johnson’s recent pipeline successes will benefit the company in the coming years, despite its drugs arm being substantially smaller than the five biggest pharma companies.

It is thought that Novartis will be Sanofi’s closest competition over the next few years, with strong sales growth from Gilenya and Tasigna due to Diovan’s loss of patent protection next year.

Figure 1: