The loss widened from the $10.4 million, or 40 cents a share, reported for last year’s first quarter, the company said this morning.
Revenues dropped to $14.8 million from $17.6 million.

Most of the revenue came from reimbursements Progenics got from drug giant Wyeth for work Progenics did developing a drug under an agreement the company’s have.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month approved the company’s application to market Relistor for patients on pain medications for advanced illnesses. Some of those pain medications cause constipation that cannot be relieved with laxatives.
Progenics is also testing a drug for the treatment of the AIDS virus.

The company, the parent of Barr Laboratories Inc., earned $23 million, or 21 cents a share, in the quarter that ended in March. A year earlier, the company earned $12 million, or 11 cents a share.

On an adjusted basis that does not comply with generally accepted accounting principles, the company earned 57 cents a share, down from 73 cents last year.

Revenues were $608 million, up from $597 million.

Bruce L. Downey, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said: “While our results for the first quarter did not meet our expectations, we believe that these results will improve in the second half of the year and demonstrate the value of expanding our operations and markets outside the U.S.”

He said the company had strong sales in Germany, Russia and Poland.

A year earlier, the company earned $1.4 million, or 2 cents a share.

The company, which markets Rawlings sporting goods, Mr. Coffee machines and Coleman camping equipment, also reported its results on a basis that does not comply with general accepted accounting principles. On that basis, Jarden’s adjusted net income was $16.5 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $17.1 million, or 24 cents a share, last year.

“While the first quarter is traditionally Jarden’s seasonally smallest quarter, our performance was in line with our expectations and a good start to achieving our full-year outlook,” Martin E. Franklin, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

He said the poor economy is hurting consumer confidence and retail sales, but the company’s Outdoor Solutions segment still grew its sales by 3.6 percent on a comparable basis.

On a per-share basis, the company lost 13 cents during this year’s quarter, the third quarter of its fiscal 2008. A year earlier, the loss was 4 cents a share.

This year’s results included $3.2 million in one-time expenses, including a provision for obsolete inventory, a provision for possible legal settlements and costs associated with the resignation of former chief executive Paul Intlekofer, the company said this morning.

Revenues dropped to $10.8 million, from $15.8 million. Revenues in last year’s quarter included a large one-time sale of Selenomax High Selenium Yeast. Without that sale, revenues would have been $13.2 million.

The plan allows Zugibe to sell up to $1 million shares over a one-year period.

Zugibe said he plans to use some of the money he gets from the sales to pay off personal debt he ran up last year when he and other executives bought more than 9 million shares. Those purchases allowed the company to buy back and retire 6.9 million shares, resulting in a 26 percent reduction in shares outstanding, he said.

Hudson shares were trading at $2.41, up 48 cents, in early trading this morning.

On a per-share basis, this year’s loss was 13 cents, compared with 26 cents last year.

The company’s operating loss narrowed to $6.5 million from $7.1 million.

Emisphere, which has its headquarters in Cedar Knolls, N.J. does not have a marketable product yet but is seeking to introduce an oral form of vitamin B-12 that delivers high dosages of the nutrient during the second half of this year.

The company said the loss includes $29.8 million from the subprime impairments.

During the first quarter of last year, the company had a profit of $4.4 million, or 7 cents a share.

The operating loss for the quarter was $16.7 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with an operating profit of $3.1 million, or 5 cents a share, during the first quarter of last year.

Revenues rose 98.1 percent to $1.2 billion. Not counting revenues from the MemberHealth business that Universal bought last September, revenues were up 24 percent.

“The results of the first quarter were mixed but contained encouraging indicators for the balance of 2008 and beyond, Richard Barasch, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

The company said in March that it would reduce the value of some of its subprime holdings to account for the reduced value of the assets. Universal said it took the action after consulting with its auditors.

That’s what customers who buy 500-milliliter bottles of Lipton Iced Tea, Tropican juice, Aquafina FlavorSplash and Aquafina Alive will get.

PepsiCo, the Purchase-based company that markets the drinks, said it has reduced the amount of plastic in the bottles by 20 percent, enough to prevent 20 million pounds of waste from hitting the environment. The lighter bottles will be on store shelves this month, the company said.

The company said it is also reducing the size of the labels by 10 percent and the size of the shrink wrap that’s used to wrap multi-packs by 5 percent.

The consumer publication’s research showed that not only that prices vary from store to store for the same, but the differences can be dramatic — even within the same chain, depending on location.

Consumer Reports placed calls to 163 pharmacies nationwide to gauge price differences among four prescription drugs, three name brand medicines and one generic. For a three-month supply of pills for the urinary incontinence drug Detrol, for example, the price ranged from $365 to $551.

The magazine also found significant price disparities for the two other name-brand drugs it studied: for Plavix (which prevents blood clots), the spread was $382-$541, and for Levoxyl (for treating hypothyroidism), prices ran from $29 to $85. And for the generic alendronate (for osteoporosis), the price range was $124 to $306.

The magazine’s small scale market-basket study showed Costco was the cheapest for the four drugs CR sought quotes for, followed by AARP.com and Wal-Mart. Walgreens and Rite-Aid were among the priciest for the four drugs.

Besides calling different stores and comparison shopping, other cost-saving tips include:

• Don’t rule out independents: Though they’re not the cheapest overall, many mom-and-pop pharmacies are highly competitive and offer top notch service.

• Talk to your employer: Benefits administrators can provide details about pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs.

• Buy generics: They can cost 20 to 50 percent less than their brand name equivalents.

• See if there’s a discount program: Some stores have programs for those 50 and older; other programs are open to anyone without insurance.

The full report is available for free now at www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org, or in the June issue of Consumer Reports magazine available on newsstands tomorrow.