NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Biopharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) Thursday reported a higher fourth-quarter profit, as strong sales of type 2 diabetes drug Onglyza/Kombiglyze and two other cancer drugs helped grow top line by 7 percent, despite lower sales of its blockbuster drug Plavix. Adjusted earnings and revenues missed analysts' expectations. The company also issued guidance for the full year 2012, in line with estimates. In the fourth quarter, net earnings attributable to the company increased to $852 million or $0.50 per share from $483 million or $0.28 per share reported last year. On an adjusted basis, net earnings were $906 million or $0.53 per share, up from $807 million or $0.47 per share in the year-ago quarter. On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.55 per share in the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Net sales for the quarter grew 7 percent to $5.45 billion from $5.11 billion in the prior year, but missed analysts' estimate of $5.51 billion. U.S. net sales increased 8 percent to $3.6 billion and international net sales were $1.9 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago. Bristol's flagship anti-clogging product Plavix, for which the company will lose exclusivity in May 2012, had sales of $1.67 billion in the quarter, down 3 percent from last year. The company's global sales growth in the quarter was led by type 2 diabetes drug Onglyza/Kombiglyze, which had 110 percent increase in sales. Sales of cancer drug Sprycel improved 34 percent, arthritis drug Orencia's sales grew 27 percent and sales from Baraclude improved 20 percent from a year ago. Cancer drug Yervoy had sales of $144 million in the quarter. The company said its gross margin improved to 74.9 percent from 72.3 percent in the preceding year, but marketing, selling and administrative expenses surged 22 percent to $1.2 billion. Looking ahead to the full year 2012, Bristol-Myers Squibb expects GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share to be in the range of $1.90 to $2. Worldwide sales are expected to be between $17.2 billion and $18.2 billion. This assumes full-year 2012 worldwide sales of Plavix will be approximately $2.7 billion. Analysts expect the company to earn $1.97 per share for the year on sales of $18.19 billion. BMY is currently trading at $32.85, up 0.46 percent, on a volume of 1.51 million shares on the NYSE.
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