July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s profit jumped 23 percent, beating analysts' estimates, on sales of its blood thinner Plavix and mood-stabilizer Abilify. The drugmaker also promised to trim spending an additional $1 billion by 2012.

Profit from continuing operations in the second quarter rose to $722 million, or 36 cents a share, from $588 billion, or 30 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Earnings excluding some items beat analysts' estimates by 3 cents.

Chief Executive Officer James M. Cornelius said in December he planned to reduce spending by $1.5 billion by 2012, and now has increased that goal to $2.5 billion. The company faces generic competition to Plavix in 2012, and its contract to sell Abilify in the U.S. will end then. Those drugs had sales of $6.42 billion last year, a third of Bristol's revenue.

``The company is being proactive announcing another billion dollars in cost cuts to help the company better navigate the 2012-2013 patent expirations,'' said Linda Bannister, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in a telephone interview today. ``Bristol reported a good quarter. The company continues to execute well and is definitely benefiting'' from the spending reductions announced late last year, she said.

Bristol rose 23 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $22.12 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has dropped 30 percent in the last 12 months.

Maintains Forecast

The drugmaker reiterated its 2008 forecast for net earnings from continuing operations of $1.36 to $1.46 a share. Details of the plan to trim an addition $1 billion in costs will be disclosed later this year, Chief Financial Officer Jean-Marc Huet said in a statement.

Both this quarter and the year-earlier quarter exclude earnings from Bristol's ConvaTec division, which it agreed to sell for $4.1 billion in May, and its medical imaging unit, which sold for $525 million in January.

Second-quarter revenue rose 14 percent to $5.2 billion. Foreign exchange gains from converting overseas sales to weaker U.S. dollars contributed about 5 percent of the growth. Earnings excluding certain items of 43 cents a share beat the 40-cent average of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Most of the excluded charges are related to plant closings, firings and recent acquisitions.

Sales of Plavix, co-marketed with Paris-based Sanofi- Aventis SA, climbed 17 percent to $1.39 billion in the second quarter, from $1.19 billion a year earlier, when supplies of the cheaper generic version made by Apotex Inc. were temporarily available.

Abilify Sales

Sales of Abilify, prescribed for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, rose 28 percent to $529 million. Bristol won U.S. approval in May to market the drug for long-term use by children and teenagers. It was previously approved only for initial treatment of teenagers 13 and older diagnosed with schizophrenia and for children 10 and older with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression.

Bristol sells Abilify in the U.S. and in several European countries with Tokyo-based Otsuka Corp., which discovered it. Bristol's contract for U.S. sales ends in 2012 and for European sales ends in 2014, when Otsuka's patent expires, Bristol spokeswoman Tracy Furey said in a telephone interview.

Revenue from the AIDS medicine Reyataz climbed 28 percent to $324 million and the AIDS therapy Sustiva climbed 21 percent to $282 million. Sales of the hepatitis B treatment Baraclude more than doubled to $136 million, and the rheumatoid arthritis drug Orencia doubled to $106 million.

`Taking Steps'

``We are making acquisitions, entering licensing agreements and investing in our pipeline,'' Cornelius, the CEO, said in a statement. ``We are also taking steps now to manage through future exclusivity losses'' from patent expirations, he said.

The cancer treatment Erbitux, which Bristol markets in the U.S. with New York-based ImClone Systems Inc., generated $187 million, a 17 percent increase. The medicine is approved to treat colon cancer and tumors of the head and neck. German drugmaker Merck KGaA sells Erbitux in Europe.

Sales of the leukemia treatment Sprycel more than doubled to $142 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 24, 2008 16:30 EDT