Pfizer beats Street 2Q forecasts despite big drop in profit

Over that stretch, they bought several companies and products, boosting sales enough to eventually offset losses from a tsunami of generic competition to multiple big sellers, most notably cholesterol pill Lipitor.

Pfizer also attempted and failed at two mega-acquisitions, first of Britain's AstraZenea Plc and this year of Ireland's Allergan Plc. Both deals were structured as tax inversions, meaning they would move Pfizer's headquarters — on paper only — from New York to the other company's base to reduce Pfizer's U.S. tax bill.

In the quarter, sales of Lyrica, Pfizer's newer cancer medicines and rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz rose significantly, fueling an 11 percent increase in revenue to $13.15 billion.

[...] higher production costs and charges for restructuring, acquisitions and litigation dragged down Pfizer's bottom line.

Sales of consumer health products were flat at $837 million, and Pfizer brought in about $570 million from its contract manufacturing operation, infusion systems and biosimilar drugs sold outside the U.S.