The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
07-13-2006
N.J. BRIEFS
Kevin G. Demarrais; Jennifer Caballero; Martha McKay; Bloomberg News; Prashant Gopal
Date: 07-13-2006, Thursday
Section: BUSINESS
Edtion: All Editions
Column: N.J. BRIEFS
Wyeth predicting robust earnings
MADISON — Wyeth reaffirmed its forecast for 2006 on Wednesday, saying full-year earnings would reach "at least the upper end" of its guidance of $2.97 to $3.07 a share if current business trends continue.
"Our expectations for 2006 reflect solid ongoing operating performance driven both by revenue growth and cost control," said Robert Essner, Wyeth's chairman and chief executive. "We expect to deliver on our stated goal of growing earnings at a meaningfully faster rate than revenue."
The drug maker announced also that it had submitted "a timely response" to the May 8 warning letter it received from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning manufacturing at its Guayama, Puerto Rico, plant.
Wyeth was cited for manufacturing lapses involving at least a dozen drugs, including one instance in which a screw and two washers wound up in a bottle of a blood-pressure medicine and another that prompted the recall of 20 lots of a contraceptive.
The company said it hopes to resolve those issues by the end of the year.
— Kevin G. DeMarrais
* * *
Schering makes executive change
KENILWORTH — Schering Plough Corp. announced two executive changes for its research and development arm, Schering-Plough Research Institute.
Thomas P. Koestler will become executive vice president, president and a member of the company's executive management team. He will also become a member of the Pharmaceutical Leadership Board, which steers product development, registration, and launches.
He succeeds Cecil B. Pickett, who retired to join Biogen Idec.
Catherine D. Strader, the current executive vice president of discovery research at the institute, will become executive vice president and chief scientific officer for the institute.
Koestler and Strader will begin their new jobs on Sept. 1.
— Jennifer Caballero
* * *
'Megachurch' pastor and Audible team up
WAYNE — Audible Inc. and "megachurch" pastor T.D. Jakes are joining forces, the company said Wednesday.
Audible, a provider of spoken audio over the Internet, will offer a digital subscription service — for $14.95 per month — to join "The Potter's House Audible Listener Plan," which will let customers download Bishop Jakes' sermons, spiritual teachings and motivational messages to a computer, MP3 player or iPod.
Jakes and his ministry are known to millions of people around the world, Audible said. Audible will officially unveil the new service at Jakes' third annual MegaFest event in Atlanta, scheduled for July 19-22. Last year, MegaFest drew more than 100,000 attendees.
— Martha McKay
* * *
Wal-Mart will sell Plan B pill in Conn.
WOODCLIFF LAKE — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, has agreed to sell a morning-after contraceptive pill in Connecticut, bringing to at least three the number of states where it will carry the drug.
The agreement was reached four months after Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ruled Wal-Mart could be excluded from Connecticut's health-insurance network if it refused to dispense the pill, Blumenthal said in a statement Wednesday.
Wal-Mart will continue to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill the prescription and to refer customers to other pharmacies, the statement said.
Wal-Mart said in March it would sell the Plan B emergency contraceptive made by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Woodcliff Lake after Illinois and Massachusetts pressured the company to do so. Wal-Mart hadn't offered the pill, which women can take 72 hours after intercourse to prevent conception, because, it said, there wasn't enough demand for the pill.
— Bloomberg News
* * *
Opteum acquires assets of Aclarian
PARAMUS — Opteum Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded Opteum Inc., said Wednesday that it has acquired the assets of Aclarian Mortgage, a private retail mortgage lender based in Sarasota, Fla.
The Opteum subsidiary, a mortgage lender with 37 branches nationwide, said the acquisition strengthens its position in Florida's high-growth west coast market.
Opteum will now have five branches in Florida, including two in Sarasota.
— Prashant Gopal
Keywords: BUSINESS
Copyright 2006 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.
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