Teva Pharma 1Q profit falls on charge but tops estimate

Net income fell to $147 million, or 18 cents per share, from $342 million, or 42 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding a $382 million charge related to the CoGenesys acquisition, adjusted profit totaled $529 million, or 64 cents per share.

Revenue rose 24 percent to $2.57 billion from $2.08 billion.

The results beat estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who expected profit of 63 cents per share on revenue of $2.53 billion.

The Israeli company said drug sales in North America rose 28 percent and accounted for 53 percent of total sales, helped by sales of generic acid reflux drug Protonix, blood pressure medicine Lotrel, the launch of a generic version of osteoporosis drug Fosamax and strong sales of multiple sclerosis treatment Copaxone.

As of April 30, Teva had 155 product applications awaiting final FDA approval, including 44 tentative approvals. Collectively, the brand products covered by these applications had annual U.S. sales of about $98 billion. Of these, 88 are Paragraph IV filings which challenge patents of branded products.

Pharmaceutical sales in Europe rose 18 percent to $667 million and accounted for 26 percent of total sales, while international drug sales rose 31 percent to $384 million, driven by strong sales in Russia, as well as across Latin America.