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Pfizer: $800M in cuts to hit 4Q
Pfizer's pharma chief gave an update on the drugmaker's restructuring, and the news is that the company has slashed $1.2 billion off 2006 cost levels since the reorg was announced. And, Ian Read told analysts and investors, Pfizer expects to have cut a total of $2 billion by year's end. Most of the remaining reductions--all $800 million of them--will come in the fourth quarter. Is that a hint of more job cuts?
Meanwhile, the company is trying to boost revenues in advance of Lipitor's slide off patent in 2011. It's launching the stop-smoking remedy Chantix in nine additional countries. It's mounting a big ad push for Lyrica, targeting fibromyalgia patients. That antidepressant is the only drug now FDA-approved to treat the condition. And it's planning to tweak existing products that have gone off-patent or will soon--either by creating new dosages or seeking new uses or other changes--to the tune of $3 billion in addition revenues.
Plus, the drugmaker is growing its sales forces in emerging markets--are you listening, you laid-off and possibly bilingual pharma reps? The seven countries with the largest projected sales growth: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey. Read sees another $3 billion in new sales via this strategy. And in the U.S., Pfizer is switching from having a sales force for each individual drug, to having sales reps talk up a variety of Pfizer brands, depending on each doctor's needs.
- read the Orlando Sentinel story
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No more heli-commute perks for Pfizer SVP
Pfizer CFO speaks frankly, carries big ax
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Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 1:00pm | September 23, 2008
"It's mounting a big ad push for Lyrica, targeting fibromyalgia patients. That antidepressant is the only drug now FDA-approved to treat the condition"...Didn't your column recently report that Cymbalta got the FDA approval for treating fibromyalgia also?
By Anonymous | Posted 2:59pm | September 23, 2008
I hope the next presidential candidate does something about all of the pharmaceutical company jobs going overseas. There are a lot of pharma people losing jobs! I also certainly don't want drugs from China or India after the recent recalls and baby formula scandals. I'll take my chances with the more safer expensive US drugs. I'd rather cut back on a other things than die from a drug contamination!
By Anonymous | Posted 3:37pm | September 23, 2008
Lyrica - For diabetic Nerve Pain, Add-on for Partial Seizures & Fibromyalgia not a antidepressent
By Anonymous | Posted 8:48am | September 24, 2008
Judging from the article, Pfizer's ads for Lyrica as a treatment for fibromyalgia haven't had much of an impact. In them, one of the major selling points is that it isn't an antidepressant. Of course, they don't mention that it is an antiepileptic but I suppose Pfizer figures Lilly will mention that as it promotes Cymbalta (also FDA approved for fibromyalgia).
By Anonymous | Posted 3:46pm | September 26, 2008
Lyrica being an antiepileptic drug is not a concern. What matters is the mechanism of action of the product. All of the drugs in the antiepileptic drug class do not have the same mechanism of action so the class of drug for Lyrica is misleading. Pain orginates from the nervous system as well as epilepsy and there are many cascading factors involved with both disease states so the fact that Lyrica is in this class of drugs is not as big a deal as you are implying. I doubt that Lilly will be mentioning this in their ads for Cymbalta.
By Anonymous | Posted 1:31pm | September 26, 2008
Pfizer will have competition there are several products pending approval for Fibromyalgia AND uncontrolled seizures:
Cypress Bioscience
Ovation Pharmaceuticals
By Anonymous | Posted 10:46pm | December 6, 2008
i hope the layoffs in IT continue as the people there are worthless. The outsourcing of IT services is a great move to eliminate the overpaid lazy people in IT.
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