Wyeth profit falls 7 percent, but beats estimates : US Business

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wyeth on Wednesday said second-quarter earnings fell 7 percent, hurt by generic forms of its Protonix ulcer drug, although results beat estimates as they were helped by its vaccine for childhood infections and a drug for inflammatory disease.

Wyeth said it earned $1.12 billion, or 83 cents per share, compared with $1.2 billion, or 87 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Excluding special items, Wyeth earned 91 cents per share, 4 cents ahead of the average estimate of analysts, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $5.95 billion.

Sales of its Effexor antidepressant rose 5 percent to $1.02 billion. Sales of its Prevnar vaccine to prevent pneumococca infections in children rose 9 percent to $691 million.

Wyeth also benefited from its Enbrel drug, for which it shares rights with Amgen Inc . The drug, for inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, saw sales outside the United States and Canada rise 36 percent to $692 million. Wyeth's share of sales in the United States and Canada rose 6 percent to $284 million.

Wyeth's branded Protonix sales have been under pressure by generic forms, launched by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd late last year. Sales of Protonix fell 59 percent to $228 million.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson and Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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