Pfizer goes public with R&D pipeline

It's tough to take over the world when everyone can see your battle plans--or so thought Pfizer before CEO Jeffrey Kindler pledged transparency. Now the company's future can be viewed at its public R&D pipeline site [1], which was updated yesterday for the first time since it went online in December. Pfizer has 47 Phase II drugs, 11 Phase III drugs and 14 biologics in its pipeline. An unlucky 13 projects were abandoned.

The pipeline also shows 20 cancer hopefuls moving their way up the charts. But it was an HIV drug that jumped out of the pipeline and onto the market yesterday, with the FDA's approval of Selzentry (maraviroc [2]). It's a first-in-class drug that keeps the virus from entering white blood cells. The accelerated approval is specific to patients with a particular strain of HIV-1, known as R5 virus. Development of the drug for other HIV patients continues, according to Pfizer's pipeline site. Unfortunately, the company hasn't revealed much more about maraviroc's development. Is Pfizer's transparency initiative better than tea leaves? Sure, but it's not exactly the keys to the kingdom.

- see this release [3] on Pfizer's pipeline
- read the release [4] on the FDA approval
- here's the report [5] from StreetInsider on Selzentry
- here's a link [1] to the pipeline

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Management shakeup at Pfizer. Report [7]
CEO McKinnell gets the boot as Pfizer struggles. Report [8]
Troubled Pfizer blueprints biotech venture effort. Report [9]