MADISON, N.J., April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Robert Essner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Wyeth , reported today at the Corporation's annual meeting that stockholders had re-elected the 13 current members of the Board of Directors named in the Corporation's proxy statement. Stockholders also ratified the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the Corporation's independent registered public accounting firm for the year 2007, approved amendments to the Corporation's restated certificate of incorporation to eliminate supermajority voting requirements, and amended and restated Wyeth's 2005 Stock Incentive Plan for tax compliance.
In addition, stockholders voted to defeat stockholder proposals regarding: disclosing the Company's animal welfare policy; preparing a report on limiting the supply of prescription drugs in Canada; providing additional disclosure of political contributions; interlocking directorships; separation of the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and adoption of a stockholder advisory vote on compensation.
Another stockholder proposal - to seek recoupment of incentive bonuses from Wyeth management when business performance targets were reasonably determined not to have been achieved - was passed. This voting result will be taken under advisement and reviewed by the Company.
During today's meeting, Mr. Essner summarized some of the highlights from the past year, stating: "In 2006, we exceeded $20 billion in revenue for the first time, driven by a 9% increase in year-over-year revenue. We also succeeded in growing earnings at a meaningfully faster rate than revenues achieving 14% pro forma earnings per share growth. Our strong performance reflected the convergence of several factors, including solidifying our position as a leading biotech company and realizing the success of our primary care sales force model. We also published our first formal report of our corporate citizenship initiatives and activities, that included information about programs to provide medicines and vaccines to needy communities."
Wyeth's pharmaceutical revenue increased by 10% in 2006 due to the strength of six product franchises that each exceeded at least $1 billion in revenue -- Enbrel(R), Effexor(R), Protonix(R), Prevnar(R), Wyeth's Nutritionals line and the Premarin(R) family. Reflecting Wyeth's continued product diversification, the Company increased its biotech presence, reporting a 23% increase in revenue in this category over last year. Wyeth's biotech business represents almost 35% of Wyeth's total pharmaceutical revenue, and, on a stand-alone basis, would rank fourth in the global biotech industry today.
Wyeth's R&D efforts continue to be productive. On average at least one new drug a month has been brought into development over the past five years. In 2006 Wyeth filed New Drug Applications for four key pharmaceutical products: Viviant(TM) for osteoporosis prevention, Pristiq(TM) for vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause, Torisel(TM) for renal cell cancer and bifeprunox for schizophrenia.
Also during today's meeting, Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., Ph.D., President, Wyeth Research, and Senior Vice President, Wyeth, and Menelas Pangalos, Ph.D., Vice President, Neuroscience Discovery, Wyeth Research, provided an overview of Wyeth's 12 development programs in Alzheimer's Disease encompassing the Company's small molecule, biotech and vaccine research platforms. The scientific presentation also focused on the societal impact of Alzheimer's and outlined Wyeth's commitment to finding treatments with the most extensive research program in the industry -- with $450 million invested in the past five years and approximately one-third of the Company's R&D personnel involved in these efforts.
Finally, at today's meeting of the Board of Directors, a dividend of twenty-six cents ($0.26) per share on the outstanding shares of Common Stock was declared payable on June 1, 2007, to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 11, 2007. Additionally, a dividend of fifty cents ($0.50) per share on the outstanding shares of Preferred Stock was declared payable on July 2, 2007, to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 13, 2007.
Wyeth is one of the world's largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company's major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements based on current expectations of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include the inherent uncertainty of the timing and success of, and expense associated with, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our products, including with respect to our pipeline products; government cost-containment initiatives; restrictions on third-party payments for our products; substantial competition in our industry, including from branded and generic products; data generated on our products; the importance of strong performance from our principal products and our anticipated new product introductions; the highly regulated nature of our business; product liability, intellectual property and other litigation risks and environmental liabilities; uncertainty regarding our intellectual property rights and those of others; difficulties associated with, and regulatory compliance with respect to, manufacturing of our products; risks associated with our strategic relationships; economic conditions including interest and currency exchange rate fluctuations; changes in generally accepted accounting principles; trade buying patterns; the impact of legislation and regulatory compliance; risks and uncertainties associated with global operations and sales; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption "Item 1A, Risk Factors." The forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these risk factors. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
WyethCONTACT: Media Contact, Douglas Petkus, +1-973-660-5218, or InvestorContact, Justin Victoria, +1-973-660-5340, both of Wyeth
Web site: http://www.wyeth.com/
