Business News

Pfizer to offer discounted drugs

The nation’s largest drug company said Wednesday it will begin offering substantial discounts on its medications to all uninsured Americans, a move that may set a precedent for others. Pfizer, whose products include cholesterol drug Lipitor, pain medication Celebrex and impotence treatment Viagra, says the program will be open to all those without health insurance, those on Medicare and those whose insurance does not cover drugs. “From now on, all uninsured Americans will have same purchasing power as large insurers for Pfizer medicines,” said Pat Kelly, Pfizer’s president of U.S. Pharmaceuticals. As an example of the savings, the company said the price of Lipitor would go from about $79 a month to $53 for a family earning less $41,000 a year.

Idaho court rules on property sales

Boise The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s consumer protection law will apply to the sale by individuals of investment real estate. That means all individual sales of property besides a residence must comply with the Idaho Consumer Protection Act’s restrictions on unfair or deceptive practices — even when those sales are infrequent. Justice Roger Burdick, writing for the five-member court, said there was a distinction between people selling their own homes and selling business or other investment property. The ruling came in the dispute over the sale of two Boise buildings that contained undisclosed water damage. However, the court also decided to limit recovery of so-called stigma damages to those created by previous tenants. That would include a murder in the building or a person with a contagious disease or registered sex offender once living there. It would not apply, for example, to property conditions such as toxic mold.

Top automakers will offer big incentives

Detroit General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. intensified their incentives battle Wednesday, dangling as much as $5,000 in cash for the purchase of some vehicles following disappointing sales in June. The new offers were widely anticipated by analysts, who say the costly enticements are needed for the nation’s two largest automakers to clear out bloated inventories and try to stem declining market share. Observers also say the new round of offers is likely to create heavy demand this month. No. 1 GM upped cash rebates to $5,000 on most 2004 trucks and sport utility vehicles, and to $4,000 on most cars. The automaker also is offering interest-free financing for five years on most 2004 vehicles. The program runs through Aug. 2. No. 2 Ford raised cash offers by $1,000 to $5,000 on the 2004 Freestar minivan and to $4,000 on the four-door 2004 Explorer SUV. Zero-percent financing for up to 60 months is available on a number of models, including the Crown Victoria, Focus, Taurus and F-150 Heritage. Ford’s new deals are good through Sept. 30. “The current situation looks very much like the inventory build-up that occurred in April, which was addressed in May by big incentive increases and tiny production cuts,” Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa said in a research report. “We expect the same response in July.” European automaker Volkswagen, whose U.S. sales were off 14 percent through June, said Wednesday it too would offer zero-percent financing for certain terms on its Jetta and Passat models in July.

Airport workers will undergo screening

Washington Tens of thousands of employees at airport restaurants, newsstands and other shops behind security checkpoints will soon have to undergo more detailed background checks and pass through metal detectors on their way to work. New directives issued late Tuesday by the Transportation Security Administration also require all 445 commercial airports to reduce the number of doors behind security checkpoints used by airport and airline employees, and increase security for the remaining doors. TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield Jr. said Wednesday the new rules are designed to strengthen security and “identify and disrupt potential threats to civil aviation.” Under the new rules, private employees will pass through screening every day on their way to work. In addition, the TSA will require airports to reduce the number of security identification badges issued to vendor employees. Such badges allow access beyond the secure area to airport tarmacs and the airplanes themselves.

Earnings roundup

“ Yahoo Inc.‘s second-quarter profit more than doubled as the Internet giant continued to ride online advertising’s rising wave, but the results still disappointed investors hoping for even bigger things. The company said Wednesday that it earned $112.5 million, or 8 cents per share, up from $50.8 million, or 4 cents per share, at the same time last year. Revenue for the three months ended June totaled $832.3 million compared with $321.4 million last year. The earnings matched the mean estimate among analysts. “ Strong demand and a continuing rebound in aluminum prices drove Alcoa‘s net profits up 87 percent during the second quarter, the company said. The world’s largest aluminum producer reported a net income of $404 million, or 46 cents per share, for the three months that ended June 30, compared with $216 million, or 26 cents per share, during the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had expected earnings of 47 cents a share. Sales rose nearly 11 percent to $6.09 billion from $5.49 billion. “ Biotechnology pioneer Genentech Inc.‘s yearlong hot streak continued as the drug maker reported a 29 percent increase in profits, led by better-than-expected sales of Avastin, its newest cancer fighter. The results, released after the stock market closed, met analysts’ rosy expectations. For the quarter ended June 30, the South San Francisco, Calif.-based company earned $170.8 million, or 16 cents a share, a 29 percent increase over the previous year’s second-quarter earnings of $132.3 million, or 13 cents a share. “ Accenture Ltd., the world’s largest management and technology consulting company, said profit for its latest quarter surged 59 percent, helped by an economic recovery in many parts of the world. Accenture had net income of $210.4 million, or 37 cents a share, for the third quarter ended May 31, compared with $132.1 million, or 28 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. The latest results matched the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.