GlaxoSmithKline's quarterly sales were boosted by strong demand for its flu drug Relenza and a weak sterling, the pharmaceutical firm said today.
Third-quarter earnings per share growth of 13 per cent, flattered by a weak pound, was just shy of expectations, while group revenue rose 15 per cent, helped by recent diversification, it said.
Glaxo has lost plenty of business this year to cheap generics, as patents on its older medicines expire, resulting in a 12 per cent fall in US sales in the period.
But windfall sales of drugs and vaccines due to H1N1 are softening the blow.
As with many of its rivals, 2009 is turning out better than initially feared, and Chief Executive Andrew Witty said he expected further growth in the fourth quarter of the year, "including significant sales of influenza products".
Glaxo said previously it had taken orders for 440 million doses of its H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix, and analysts say it could book around £1 billion sterling of this business in the fourth quarter as immunisation campaigns get underway.
Witty told reporters that market expectations for sales of the vaccine were "pretty close to being right", adding Glaxo had booked further orders and still had capacity for more.
European drugmakers Glaxo, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and AstraZeneca are set to win the bulk of the business for mass swine flu vaccination programmes launched by governments around the world.
Glaxo also gains from having the inhaled flu drug Relenza, which registered sales of £182 million in the third quarter, against just £12 million a year earlier.
Roche has seen a similar sharp jump in sales of its rival flu drug Tamiflu.
Glaxo's pretax profit totalled £2.07 billion in the third quarter, equivalent to earnings per share before major restructuring of 28.5 pence, on sales of £6.76 billion.