Growth Fundamentally, Merck and Pfizer face similar challenges. The strong dollar has hurt their overseas results, and the ongoing tug of war between declining sales of drugs with expiring patent protection and new pipeline drug candidates has continued. In Pfizer's most recent quarter, the drugmaker grew its sales by 7%, but adjusted net income was down slightly from the year-ago period. Sales of the Prevnar 13 vaccine more than doubled, but declining sales from Lipitor showed how the loss of former blockbusters can have a major impact on revenue. Full-year guidance of $2.20 to $2.30 per share in adjusted earnings was below the consensus forecast among investors and also represented only marginal growth from 2015 figures. CEO Ian Read pointed to strong performance from approved drugs, advances in its product pipeline, and the acquisitions of Hospira and Allergan as contributing to growth in 2016.