Who does Forest Labs appreciate? Lexapro and Namenda, to name two. The two drugs helped boost the drug maker's fiscal third-quarter net by 21 percent to $301 million, or 96 cents a share. Revenue was up by 12 percent to $998 million. Analysts were expecting an average of 75 cents a share earnings on sales of $947 million.

Lexapro, the depression and anxiety drug that Forest sells under license from Denmark's Lundbeck, grew by 11 percent to $603.5 million during the quarter. Meanwhile, the Alzheimer's and dementia drug Namenda grew by 26 percent to $218 million. The strong third-quarter performance led Forest to increase its earnings outlook for the year: to $3.35 to $3.45 per share from $3.10 to $3.20 per share.

The only shadow on this strong quarterly report is the fact that Lexapro and Namenda will both soon lose patent protection, and generics makers already are fighting [1] to make copycat versions.

- see the release [2] from Forest Labs
- read the report [3] in the Wall Street Journal

Related Articles:
Forest Labs gets Lexapro protection. Report [4]
FDA OKs generic Lexapro. Report [5]
Forest sues generics over Namenda. Report [6]