Abstract
The strength of the dollar against foreign currencies continues to shave revenue gains for the pharmaceutical industry. Although this factor has not been enough to halt growth, it has slowed it considerably. For the second quarter in a row, consolidated sales of a group of 18 major drug companies increased in first-quarter 1985 only 3% over the year-earlier period. The rate of growth has been declining steadily since fourth-quarter 1983, when sales rose 8% over those of fourthquarter 1982. However, by pruning expenses and adjusting their product lines to deal with new competitive pressures in the hospital supply market, drug firms nevertheless have succeeded in raising profitability for the third straight quarter. At 11.8%, the consolidated profit margin (after-tax income as a per cent of sales) of the group of 18 companies was well above the first-quarter 1984 level of 11.2% and the postrecession low of 10.9% in the second quarter ...
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