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Forest Laboratories Inc.'s (FRX) fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 46%, partly reflecting $170 million the maker of name-brand and generic drugs set aside in connection with a U.S. government probe into its marketing practices.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts is leading an investigation into marketing and promotional practices for its Lexapro depression treatment, Celexa and Levothroid. Forest Labs said Tuesday it "continues to cooperate with these investigations."

Early this month, the Food and Drug Administration warned 14 major pharmaceutical companies, including Forest Labs, about brief Internet ads that accompany searches on Google and other search engines, saying the ads were misleading because they didn't include risk information.

For the period ended March 31, Forest Laboratories reported net income of $92.8 million, or 31 cents a share, down from $172.8 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding a 45-cent charge in connection with the investigation and year-earlier licensing payments, earnings fell to 76 cents a share from 90 cents.

Revenue fell to $965.5 million from $990.9 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings, excluding items, of 75 cents a share on revenue of $1 billion.

Sales of Forest Labs' two biggest-selling drugs were mixed. Lexapro had a 5% drop. Namenda, a treatment for Alzheimer's and dementia, rose 7.7%. Lexapro, which the company sells for Denmark's H. Lundbeck A/S (HLUKY) in the U.S., accounts for about 60% of Forest Labs' revenue.

Last month saw the launch of Savella, a drug by Forest Labs and Cypress Bioscience Inc. (CYPB) to treat fibromyalgia. The product, which received delayed FDA approval in January, competes with Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) Lyrica.

Forest Labs expects fiscal-year earnings of $3.45 to $3.55 a share, on net revenue of $4.1 billion. Wall Street was looking for $3.47 and $4.18 billion, respectively.

Shares closed Monday at $22.39 and were inactive premarket.

-By Mike Barris, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5658; mike.barris@dowjones.com