Schering-Plough Feels Pain of Claritin Competition

Generic competition for the allergy medicine Claritin resulted in sharp declines in practically every measure of Schering-Plough's(SGP Quote) first-quarter financial performance.

The drug company said it earned $173 million, or 12 cents a share, on sales of $2.1 billion in the period, down from earnings of $600 million, or 41 cents a share, on sales of $2.6 billion last year. The result in the latest quarter was 2 cents better than the 10 cents a share the company guided analysts to in March. ...