Forest Labs Sales Advance

Lawrence Olanoff, the president and chief operating officer, told analysts that he expects the Food and Drug Administration to act by year-end on nebivolol, a blood-pressure drug licensed from Mylan Laboratories(MYL) in early 2006.

The drug received conditional approval from the FDA in 2005, but the agency asked for more information. Olanoff said Mylan will file answers to the FDA's questions by the end of the month, and he said the agency will take six months to review the application.

Olanoff added that Forest will wait on the FDA's verdict before deciding on filing a nebivolol application for congestive heart failure

Forest's biggest task is developing, licensing or acquiring products whose sales will offset the patent expirations of Lexapro and Namenda early in the next decade. Forest said it will be "investing heavily" during the fiscal year in products in late-stage clinical trials.

Experimental compounds include an antibiotic for skin infections and pneumonia, as well as treatments for chronic lung disease, stroke, fibromyalgia and Alzheimer's.

In late morning trading, Forest's stock was up 12 cents to $54.93.

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