Zyprexa

An AstraZeneca spokesperson questioned the study’s methodology.

A GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson wouldn’t discuss projected earnings for Lamictal, a treatment for bipolar disorder.

A spokesperson for Lilly said the company expected only a "modest short-term benefit to sales" for Tony Butler, managing director and pharmaceutical analyst at Lehman Bros., an investment bank in New York, agreed with the report that Medicare would probably have higher drug prices than Medicaid.

Butler estimated the sales windfall for drug companies under Medicare to be between $1.8 billion and $2 billion.

He said profits would likely increase in coming years as more businesses cut retirees’ drug benefits and steer their former employees into the Medicare drug plans.

Rep.

Henry Waxman, DCalif., and other Democrats have long complained that Republicans withheld vital cost information about the program, allowed drug-industry lobbyists to draft the proposal and fought efforts to have the government use its leverage to negotiate lower drug prices.

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An AstraZeneca spokesperson questioned the study's methodology, saying the profit estimate for Seroquel, a schizophrenia medication, was too high.

AstraZeneca gave no alternate figures.

A GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson wouldn't discuss projected earnings for Lamictal, a treatment for bipolar disorder.

A spokesperson for Lilly said the company expected only a "modest short-term benefit to sales" for sales of $2.04 billion in 2005.

Lilly's earnings per share could rise by 6 percent in 2006 just by escaping the rebates, the Prudential study said.

With U.S.

sales of $2.76 billion in 2005, Seroquel's increased Medicare profit could boost AstraZeneca's earnings per share by 8 percent, the report said.

Company policy prohibits Prudential analysts from discussing reports with non-clients, said company spokesman Jim Gorman.

Tony Butler, managing director and pharmaceutical analyst at Lehman Bros., an investment bank in New York, agreed with the report that Medicare would probably have higher drug prices than Medicaid.

Butler estimated the sales windfall for drug companies under Medicare to be between $1.8 billio...