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GSK warns profits to be hit by generic drugs competition

LONDON (AP) — Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline saw sales and net earnings grow in the fourth quarter but warned that tougher competition from generic drugmakers this year could depress its earnings. The London-based company said Wednesday its net income rose to 257 million pounds, from a loss of 354 million pounds a year earlier. Sales rose…

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FILE - In this July 30, 2013, file photo, people walk along a corridor at the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, N.J. Amid the storm over soaring medicine prices, health care giant Johnson & Johnson says that beginning in February 2017 the company will disclose average increases in the list price and what middlemen actually pay for its prescription drugs. That will help J&J’s image more than patients initially, experts say, but it could push other drugmakers to restrain future price increases and be more transparent. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)
FILE – In this July 30, 2013, file photo, people walk along a corridor at the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, N.J. Amid the storm over soaring medicine prices, health care giant Johnson & Johnson says that beginning in February 2017 the company will disclose average increases in the list price and what middlemen actually pay for its prescription drugs. That will help J&J’s image more than patients initially, experts say, but it could push other drugmakers to restrain future price increases and be more transparent. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

LONDON (AP) — Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline saw sales and net earnings grow in the fourth quarter but warned that tougher competition from generic drugmakers this year could depress its earnings.

The London-based company said Wednesday its net income rose to 257 million pounds, from a loss of 354 million pounds a year earlier. Sales rose to 7.6 billion pounds, above both market expectations for 7.5 billion pounds and the previous year’s figure of 6.3 billion pounds.

But GSK shares fell after CEO Andrew Witty said that “this year we face some uncertainty as to the level of our earnings performance.”

He highlighted the risk that a generic version of GSK’s asthma drug Advair could be introduced in the U.S. If that happens, core earnings would be flat, instead of up by 5-7 percent.
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