Pfizer beats estimates to reach $13bn in Q1 sales

Pfizer, which last month abandoned its $160 billion (€140bn) quest for Allergan — a deal which was controversially driven by a so-called tax inversion based on Ireland’s low tax regime — reported quarterly results that blew past analyst estimates.

Sales of its new cancer and arthritis treatments and the acquisition last year of hospital products company Hospira boosted the US pharmaceutical giant.

The largest US drugmaker, which employs 4,000 people in Cork and across other centres in Ireland, also raised its revenue and earnings forecast for the year.