Pfizer net plunges 38 pct., misses Street 3Q forecasts

Drugmaker Pfizer's third-quarter profit plunged 38 percent as higher spending and a slew of acquisition-related charges more than offset higher sales, sending its shares down before the stock market opened.

The mediocre results missed Wall Street expectations, Pfizer lowered the top end of its 2016 profit forecast and it said it was scrapping development of a closely watched experimental cholesterol drug, partly due to reduced sales expectations.

The biggest U.S.-based drugmaker said it discontinued bococizumab due to unimpressive results of late-stage testing and limited commercial prospects, an ominous sign as payers squeeze pharmaceutical companies amid public fury over soaring drug prices.

Insurers are aggressively limiting patient access in favor of cheap generic cholesterol pills such as Pfizer's former blockbuster Lipitor.

CEO Ian Read said in a statement that Pfizer anticipates the essential health business "will be able to transition to a modest revenue growth business" due to its strength in emerging markets such as China, Hospira's products and the biosimlar drugs — near-copies of expensive biologic drugs "manufactured" in cells — Pfizer is developing.