Hospira reports mostly flat sales in Q2 2013

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Hospira posted sales of $1 billion during second quarter 2013, a 0.7% decrease compared with second quarter 2012, the generic drug maker said.

Hospira, which specializes in making generic injectables, also posted $318.7 million gross profit, a 12.4% increase over second quarter 2012's $283.5 million.

"Results for the second quarter were in line with our expectations," CEO F. Michael Ball said. "In addition, it was a quarter of several milestone achievements for Hospira, such as the positive opine from the European Medicines Agency on our biosimilar infliximab, Inflectra, and the U.S. launch of the new premix versions of our branded sedation agent, Precedex."

Infliximab is a biosimilar version of Johnson & Johnson's Remicade, used to treat autoimmune disorders like arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease.