Drugmaker Merck & Co today raised its 2006 profit forecast and said quarterly earnings doubled.
The drugmaker said it earned $1.50 billion, or 69 cents per share, in the second quarter. That compared with $721 million, or 33 cents per share, in the 2005 period, when Merck was hurt by a tax charge related to repatriation of overseas profits.
Excluding special items, most notably a $296 million acquisition-related charge, Merck earned 73 cents per share.
Merck, which is fighting to restore its reputation and its profits following the 2004 recall of arthritis drug Vioxx, raised its 2006 profit forecast to $2.40 to $2.48 per share, excluding items.
Although that represents a slight dip from last year's earnings of $2.53 per share, the new forecast is up from its prior prediction of $2.32 to $2.40 per share.
Results were helped by a 1 per cent decrease in marketing and administrative expenses as Merck cut back on promotions of its older cholesterol fighter Zocor, which began facing generic competition late last month.
Global company sales rose 6 per cent to $5.8 billion, outstripping Wall Street expectations of $5.47 billion.
Merck stock advanced $1.04 to $38.40 on the Inet electronic brokerage system.
Shares of Merck have risen 17.4 per cent so far this year, compared with a 4.5 per cent rise for the American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical Index of large US and European drugmakers.