During the just-completed quarter the Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program (the 2010 Repurchase Program) for up to 50 million shares of its common stock. The Company also announced that under the 2010 Repurchase Program, it entered into an agreement with Morgan Stanley & Co. (MSCO) to repurchase $500 million of its common shares utilizing an accelerated share repurchase (ASR) transaction. Pursuant to the ASR transaction, MSCO delivered to the Company 16.9 million shares in the quarter. Actual shares outstanding as of June 30, 2010 were approximately 285,542,000.

Fiscal 2011 Guidance

The Company now expects that diluted earnings per share for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 will be in the range of $3.67 to $3.77, excluding the charges in the current quarter of $0.56 per share, and including the impact of the ASR transaction.

Howard Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forest, said: "We are pleased with the financial results of the Company this quarter and with the continued growth of our newest products Bystolic and Savella. During the quarter we continued to invest in a significant number of ongoing late-stage new product development opportunities both in Phase II and Phase III. We were pleased to announce the completion of a new product agreement with TransTech Pharma for the development and commercialization of a novel class of glucose-lowering agents for the treatment of diabetes. The TransTech program may offer a unique new therapeutic option for the millions of patients who suffer from diabetes and we look forward to advancing it through development.

During the quarter the FDA issued a complete response letter for our NDA submission for Daxas?®. Daxas was reviewed by the FDA as a potential treatment to reduce COPD exacerbations associated with chronic bronchitis in patients at risk for exacerbations. In the complete response letter the FDA requested certain additional information and analysis. We expect to submit the requested additional information and analysis to the FDA later this calendar quarter. In addition we were pleased to receive FDA approval in June for Namenda XR?„? for the treatment of moderate to severe dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Namenda XR is a 28 mg once-daily extended-release formulation of memantine.

Lastly, we announced a new share repurchase program in May for up to 50 million shares of the Company's common stock. Our strong cash position has enabled us to embrace a capital deployment strategy that increases per share earnings by reducing outstanding shares, while enabling us to continue and expand our commitment to new business development opportunities."

Source Forest Laboratories