Forest Labs profit drops on Lexapro competition

NEW YORK (AP) — Forest Laboratories Inc. said Tuesday its net income dropped 79 percent in the fiscal first quarter after its antidepressant Lexapro lost patent protection, allowing other companies to sell low-cost versions of the drug.

Generic versions of Lexapro went on sale in February and March, and Forest’s revenue from the drug plunged 81 percent in the first quarter, to $110 million. The company said in June that the competing generics were selling for lower prices than it had expected, and they were also taking a slightly larger share of the market than Forest had projected. Forest still sells the brand name version of Lexapro, and it gets some revenue from sales of Mylan Inc.’s company-approved generic.