Ebb & Flow

Those who need a reminder of where the life science earnings growth is needn't look farther than last week's wave of biotech and pharma earnings. Outside of Pfizer (PFE) and specialty pharma play Forest (FRX), the RX group provided lackluster growth.

Eli Lilly (LLY) - still struggling to replace its Prozac revenues - grew an anemic 5%. Merck (MRK) - smarting from a slowdown in growth for its Vioxx COX-2 inhibitor - grew EPS only 7%. And Wyeth (WYE) - trying to replace its estrogen replacement therapy franchise - saw its EPS fall 17% from the first quarter of 2002, despite a $0.42 gain from unwinding its remaining stake of Amgen (AMGN) (see A13). ...