Hospira reports Q2 sales, announces clinical trial for biosimilar

LAKE FOREST, Ill. Hospira had net sales of $968 million and profits of $83.5 million in second quarter 2010, the generic drug maker said in an earnings report.

That compared with second-quarter sales of $957 million and profits of $25.5 million.

“Hospira delivered another solid quarter, driven by strong performance in our specialty injectable pharmaceuticals business and by continued momentum of our Project Fuel optimization initiatives,” chairman and CEO Christopher Begley said. “We made significant progress in advancing our during the quarter, launching our first product from Hospira India, commercializing our second biosimilar product in Europe and strengthening our position in acute-care proprietary pharmaceuticals.”

The company also announced that the start of an early-stage clinical trial of biosimilar erythropoietin in patients with kidney dysfunction and anemia, which it called an important step toward the introduction of a biosimilar in the United States. The drug is a follow-on version of Amgen’s Epogen (epoetin alfa). Hospira hopes to launch a phase 3 trial of the drug next year. It already sells a version of the drug in Europe under the name Retacrit, which it introduced in 2008.