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In the year-ago quarter, results were also boosted by an after-tax gain of $368 million from the breakup fee J&J received after medical device maker Guidant backed out of an acquisition agreement and instead was purchased by Boston Scientific.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings a share of $1.05 and sales of $14.44 billion.

Sales totaled $15.04 billion, up nearly 16%.

Operational sales growth, which excludes the impact of new products and currency exchange rates, was 6.3%.

Revenue from the medical devices and diagnostics division edged up 6.2% to $5.32 billion, hurt by a 14% slide at Cordis, J&J's cardiovascular device business.

Sales of Cordis' drug-coated stents, tiny metal scaffolds that prop open arteries and slowly release medicine, were problematic, Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso told analysts during a conference call.

He was referring to new concerns about the safety and effectiveness of J&J's Cypher and other drug-coated stents.

Sales of prescription drugs, J&J's biggest business segment, rose 10.6% to $6.22 billion, led by strong sales of epilepsy treatment Topamax, anti-infective drug Levaquin and anti-psychotic drugs including Risp...

In the year-ago quarter, results were also boosted by an after-tax gain of $368 million from the breakup fee J&J received after medical device maker Guidant Corp.

backed out of an acquisition agreement and instead was purchased by Boston Scientific Corp.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings per share of $1.05 and sales of $14.44 billion.

Sales totaled $15.04 billion, up nearly 16 percent from $12.99 billion a year earlier.

Operational sales growth, which excludes the impact of new products and currency exchange rates, was 6.3 percent.

Revenues from the medical devices and diagnostics division edged up 6.2 percent to $5.32 billion, hurt by a 14 percent slide at Cordis, J&J's cardiovascular device business.

Sales of Cordis' drug-coated stents, tiny metal scaffolds that prop open arteries and slowly release medicine, were problematic, Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso told analysts during a conference call.

He was referring to new concerns about the safety and effectiveness of J&J's Cypher and other drug-coated stents.

Sales of prescription drugs, J&J's biggest business segment, rose 10.6 percent to $6.22 billion, led by strong sales of epilep...

``Our solid first-quarter results demonstrate the strength of our broadly based businesses, especially the strong performance of our pharmaceutical business,'' William Weldon, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, said in the statement.

In the first quarter of 2006, earnings excluding a breakup fee from J&J's failed effort to buy Guidant Corp.

were $3 billion, or 99 cents a share.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Rapaport in New York at Lrapaport1@bloomberg.net Last Updated: April 17, 2007 10:28 EDT Email this articlePrinter friendly format More News U.S.

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