vaccines aren't profitable

[Guest guest]

How

come they always tell us that they need protection to continue to make vaccines

since they aren’t profitable????

Wyeth

profit rises, boosted by vaccines

Thursday July 20, 9:21 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wyeth (WYE) on Thursday said its second-quarter earnings

rose 8.5 percent and lifted its 2006 profit forecast, helped by surging demand

for its Prevnar vaccine and Enbrel rheumatoid arthritis drug.

The Madison, New Jersey-based drugmaker, whose

shares

rose 1.5 percent in pre-market trade, said it earned $1.06 billion, or 78 cents

per share, compared with $976.6 million, or 72 cents per share, in the year-ago

period.

Excluding items, earnings were 80 cents per

share. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 76 cents per share, according

to Reuters Estimates.

Chief Financial

Officer Ken told analysts on a conference call that the company is

raising its 2006 forecast from its prior view of $2.97 to $3.07 per share.

Analysts expect $3.10 per share.

" The range is now somewhere north of

$3.07, " told analysts in a conference

call.

Wyeth raised its profit

forecast, even after saying that its tax rate this year will likely be 1

percentage point higher than the earlier projection of 22 percent.

Wyeth said global net revenue rose 9 percent

to $5.2 billion. Analysts expected $4.96 billion in revenue.

Sales of Wyeth's Effexor anti-depressant

franchise rose 3 percent to $918 million. Sales of Prevnar, Wyeth's vaccine to

prevent pneumococcal disease, rose 60 percent to $518 million. Sales of

heartburn drug Protonix fell 3 percent to $441 million.

Wyeth said its overseas sales of Enbrel rose

36 percent to $370 million. Enbrel sales in the U.S.

and Canada

are expected to be reported by Wyeth's marketing

partner Amgen Inc. (AMGN) later on Thursday.

Wyeth shares rose 67 cents to $45.00 on the

Inet electronic brokerage

system.

Shares of Wyeth have fallen 3.4 percent so far

this year, compared with a 3.7 percent gain for the American

Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical Index of large U.S. and

European drugmakers.