Procter & Gamble focuses on marketing over 300 branded products in more than 160 countries worldwide. The Health Care division develops pharmaceuticals, oral and personal health care products and is a major component of P&G's Beauty and Health Global Business Unit.

Actonel (risedronate), a third-generation, once-daily bisphosphonate, is P&G's only major pharmaceutical product. P&G and sanofi-aventis formed The Alliance for Better Bone Health in May 1997, to develop and market Actonel, with the companies co-promoting it in North America and in select key markets in Europe.

With the exception of Asacol, all of P&G's major pharmaceutical products have lost their patent protection or face patent litigation. The launch of Roche/GlaxoSmithKline's Boniva seems to have generated strong pressure for P&G's flagship pharmaceutical, Actonel. Furthermore, the R&D pipeline is limited to only two in-licensed compounds, of which, pexelizumab failed to meet its primary endpoint in its most recent clinical trials and faces the threat of discontinuation. Actonel and Asacol should continue to generate substantial Pharmaceutical revenue, however, medium- to long-term growth will be dependent on additions to both the pipeline and product portfolio.

For fiscal 2007, the company expects to deliver its sixth consecutive year of top-line growth at or above its long-term targets. Organic sales are expected to grow by 5 to 6 per cent. The combination of pricing and product mix is expected to have a neutral to positive one per cent impact on sales growth. Foreign exchange is expected to have a positive impact of about two per cent. Acquisitions and divestitures are expected to add about 4 per cent to sales growth. Total sales are expected to increase 11 to 12 per cent.