Abbott posts 31.5 percent year-on-year 2Q profit increase

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. Abbott Laboratories released its second-quarter results today, showing profits rose to $1.32 billion, an increase of 31.5 percent from $988.7 million during the same period last year, according to published reports. Total sales for the company in the quarter rose nearly 15 percent to $7.3 billion.

The profit increase is mostly due to increased sales by its blockbuster arthritis medication Humira and increased business overseas. The drug had revenue of more than $1 billion, an increase of 48 percent compared with last year. As a result of this quarter’s result, Abbott has raised the full-year expectations for the drug to $4.3 billion. Two other drugs that posted double-digit growth in the quarter were, the cholesterol pill Niaspan and the HIV medication Kaletra.

Also, the company raised its full-year guidance to between $3.24 and $3.28 from $3.20 to $3.25. This, however, is considered a low number due to the fact that earlier this month Abbott won federal approval to market its highly anticipated Xience V Drug-coated stent, used to prop open arteries once they have been surgically cleared of fatty plaque. The new product was promoted as a safer alternative to similar products from Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific and Medtronic.

The company estimates sales for its stent division will double in the third quarter to between $225 and $250 million, above what some analysts expected.