Hospira sales up by 1.4% in third quarter

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Hospira had sales of $1 billion in third quarter 2013, the generic drug maker said.

Hospira, which specializes in making generic injectable drugs, as well as biosimilars for the European market, said the sales figures for the quarter were a 1.4% increase over the $994 million in sales reported in third quarter 2012. Profits for the quarter were $84.5 billion, compared with $78.4 billion during the same period last year.

"The third quarter was one of continued progress in several areas," Hospira CEO F. Michael Ball said. "We were especially pleased to receive European approval in the quarter for our biosimilar infliximab, Inflectra, the first monoclonal antibody to be approved in Europe."