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Pfizer
 

Pfizer, Incorporated (), is a global pharmaceutical company based in New York City. It produces the number-one selling drug Lipitor (atorvastatin, used to lower blood cholesterol); the oral antifungal medication Diflucan (fluconazole), the long-acting antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin), the well-known erectile dysfunction drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate), and the anti inflammatory Celebrex (celecoxib) (also known as Celebra outside USA).

Pfizer's shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004.

History

Pfizer is named after German-American cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart who launched their chemicals business Charles Pfizer and Company from a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1849. Here, they produced an antiparasitic called santonin. This was an immediate success, although it was the production of citric acid that really kick-started Pfizer's growth in the 1880s.

By 1910, sales totalled nearly $3 million, and Pfizer became established as an expert in fermentation technology. These skills were applied to the mass production of penicillin during the World War II, in response to an appeal from the US government. The antibiotic was urgently needed to treat injured Allied soldiers, and it soon became known as "the miracle drug". In fact, most of the penicillin that went ashore with the troops on D-Day was made by Pfizer.

By the 1950s, Pfizer was established in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

During the 1980s and 1990s Pfizer underwent a period of growth sustained by the discovery and marketing of multiple successful drugs (Zoloft, Zithromax, Aricept, Diflucan, Viagra).

Corporate Structure

Current members of the board of directors of Pfizer are: Michael S. Brown, M. Anthony Burns, Robert Burt, Don Cornwell, William H. Gray, Constance Horner, William Howell, Stanley Ikenberry, George Lorch, Henry McKinnell, Dana Mead, Ruth J. Simmons, and William Steere.

Pfizer is organized into four divisions: Human Health ($44.28B in 2005 sales), Consumer Healthcare ($3.87B in 2005 sales), Animal Health ($2.2B in 2005 sales), and Corporate Groups (which includes legal, finance, and HR). On June 26, 2006, Pfizer announced that it had sold its Consumer Healthcare division (famous for well-known brands like Listerine, Nicorette, Visine, Sudafed and Neosporin) to Johnson & Johnson for $16.6B.

Merger and Acquisition Activity

Pfizer was relatively conservative with regard to mega-mergers through stock-for-stock transactions through most of its history until 2000. In that year, William Steer retired from the company and was succeeded by Henry McKinnell. As can be noted with any stock analysis tool, Pfizer's per share price (adjusted for splits) went from about $50 to $30 from 1999 to 2006 during McKinnell's tenure. It could be argued that some of the decline in Pfizer's market value during this time could be attributed to the overall decline in blue chip stocks from 1999-2001. However, many industry analysts criticize McKinnell for diluting shareholder value with expensive stock-for-stock acquisitions that obviously pay a premium for the underlying value of the acquired company. Furthermore, internal contributions to the pipeline did not replace declining value nor did these M&A activities. However, McKinnell received record compensation which he staunchly defended against critics. 1

Warner-Lambert

In 2000, Pfizer merged with Warner-Lambert and acquired full rights to Lipitor (atorvastatin), the blockbuster statin previously jointly marketed by Warner-Lambert and Pfizer. Warner-Lambert was based in Morris Plains, New Jersey where their former headquarters has now become a major base of operations for Pfizer. The Morris Plains facility is mostly used for administrative purposes. Most of Pfizer's research is done in Groton, Connecticut; Sandwich, England; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Nagoya, Japan; St. Louis, Missouri and La Jolla, California. Currently Pfizer is attempting to sell its consumer healthcare department (formally Warner-Lamerert) for a price of $10 billion+ with tax. Among the bidders are Glaxo, and Johnson & Johnson.

Pharmacia

In 2002, Pfizer merged with competitor Pharmacia to become the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. The merger was again driven in part by the desire to acquire full rights to a blockbuster product, this time Celebrex (celecoxib), the COX-2 selective inhibitor previously jointly marketed by Searle (acquired by Pharmacia) and Pfizer.

Sugen

Sugen was founded in 1991 in Redwood City, California as a partnership between the laboratories of Joseph Schlessinger at New York University Medical School and Axel Ullrich at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry (sic), and Steven Evans-Freke as a third co-founder. The focus of the enterprise was to develop drugs targeting intracellular signaling pathways to treat cancer. Pharmacia acquired Sugen in 1999, which merged with the pharmaceutical division of Monsanto in 2000 and was purchased by Pfizer in 2003. In 1999 Pharmacia took two of Sugen's compounds into man in colon cancer clinical trials: SU5416.png and SU6668.png; the trials were discontinued, but both of these compounds were in the series that eventually led to SU11248.png. Sugen's laboratories were closed as part of the reorganization following Pfizer's purchase of Pharmacia. From the acquisition, the Sugen compounds SU11248 and SU11657 entered Pfizer's pipeline.Pfizer (2003). Annual Review 2003. Annual Report.Schlessinger, Joseph (2005). "SU11248: Genesis of a New Cancer Drug". The Scientist 19(7):17-24. (subscription required). SU11248 was approved by the FDA for treatment of GIST and RCC cancers, in January of 2006, and is now marketed as Sutent (sunitinib).

Products

Pfizer manufactures both pharmaceutical medications and over-the-counter consumer products. Pfizer has an annual product marketing budget of $3 billion, which was the fourth-largest in the US as of 2003. Pfizer employs 38,000 sales representatives worldwide.

In 2004 Pfizer’s Zoloft sales totaled $3.15 billion, contributing to 6.5% of Pfizer’s total revenue for 2004 and making it one of 19 drugs that generated more than $2 billion in revenues in the United States (www.sciencemag.com). In 2005, Zoloft sales totaled $3.5 billion, helping to make Pfizer one of the biggest drug makers in the world with approximately $51.3 billion in revenue for 2005. In 2005 Pfizer Inc. spent $7.4 billion on research and development, making Pfizer Global Research and Development the largest pharmaceutical research and development organization (www.pfizer.com).

Pharmaceuticals

The following is a list of key prescription pharmaceutical products. The names shown are all registered trademarks of Pfizer Inc.

Over-the-Counter brands

The following is a partial list of Over-the-Counter brands manufactured by Pfizer:

Animal Health Brands

The following is a partial list of Animal Health brands manufactured by Pfizer:

Product Lines

The following is a partial list of Product lines manufactured by Pfizer:

Legislation and Litigation

Pfizer is party to a number of suits stemming from companies it has acquired or merged with, including asbestos litigation as well as litigation stemming from its medicinal products.

Quigley Co.

Pfizer acquired Quigley in 1968, and the division sold asbestos-containing insulation products until the early 1970s. Asbestos victims and Pfizer have been negotiating a settlement deal which calls for Pfizer to pay $430 million to 80 percent of existing plaintiffs. It will also place an additional $535 million into an asbestos settlement trust that will compensate future plaintiffs as well as the remaining 20 percent of current plaintiffs with claims against Pfizer and Quigley. The compenstion deal is worth $965 million all up.

Of that $535 million, $405 million is in a 40-year note from Pfizer, while $100 million will come from insurance policies.

Bjork-Shiley heart valve

Pfizer purchased Shiley in 1979 at the onset of its Convexo-Concave valve ordeal, involving the Bjork-Shiley heart valve. Approximately 500 people died when defective valves failed and, in 1994, the United States ruled against Pfizer for ~$200 million.

Patients' rights legislation

Pfizer proposed a ban on all lawsuits against manufacturers of body implant parts which was proposed in the United States Congress as part of tort reform legislation.

Philippines

In March 2006 Pfizer sued the Philippines government as well as two government health officials personally, to prevent Philippines drug regulators from allowing the importation of less expensive versions of a Pfizer heart disease drug.

Nigeria

In May 2006, The Washington Post published a Nigerian government report that had remained unreleased for five years. In this report, a panel of Nigerian medical experts found that Pfizer violated international law. This stems from the company's alleged testing of an unapproved drug, an oral form of Trovan, on children with brain infections in Nigeria. Pfizer replied to the report saying they conducted the trial with full knowledge of the Nigerian government.

Research and development

Pfizer's research and development organization is headquartered in New London, CT. The company has R&D labs in the following locations: Groton, Connecticut; Sandwich, England; Nagoya, Japan; Amboise, France; La Jolla, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Kalamazoo, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri.

In 2004, Pfizer invested $7.68 billion in research and development, the largest investment in R&D by private biomedical research organization.

Outsourcing

A separate and independent website from the official Pfizer Inc. website, on the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico provides information about Zoloft being produced in Puerto Rico (www.pridco.com). The website boasts that “16 out of the top 20 best selling pharmaceuticals in the United States” are manufactured in Puerto Rico and that Puerto Rico is a “pharmaceutical manufacturing mecca” (www.pridco.com). Several advantages for going offshore are described on the website, such advantages include labor laws, taxes and location. The website explains that Puerto Rico is the “lowest labor cost region” and that although the U.S. federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour applies, “a favorable wage differential exists” and that the average hourly compensation production costs in Puerto Rico is $13.47 (2000 data) compared to $17.94 (2000 data) in the U.S. mainland” (www.pridco.com). The website provides interesting information and insight regarding the production of top-selling pharmaceuticals such as Zoloft and pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer Inc.

Diversity

Pfizer received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report.

AIDS Involvement

Pfizer has been involved in controversies over the medicine Diflucan (generic name fluconazole). In 1998, a campaign by Thai public health groups lead to the elimination of the Pfizer monopoly on selling fluconazole in Thailand, and the price of the antifungal drug decreased from 200 baht to 6.5 baht in nine months, vastly expanding access to the medicine for AIDS patients. Faced with pressure for compulsory licenses to the Pfizer patent on this drug, Pfizer later established a program for limited access to the medicine in Africa. "In the United States, 46 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases occur in the South. From 2003 -2006 the Pfizer Foundation has funded 23 innovative HIV/AIDS prevention programs and strengthened the capacity of community-based organizations to reach and serve their communities." Since 2003, Pfizer has committed a $3 Million grant toward supporting the Southern HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiative.

However, there are criticisms of the way Pfizer is testing its AIDS drug. "The European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), collection of activists from 31 European Countries, said the design of the trial for Pfizer's CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc, previously known as UK-427,857, is putting people with HIV infection at unnecessary risk of developing AIDS." In 2001, Pfizer asked the US government to pressure the Brazilian government against issuing compulsory licenses for the patents on the AIDS drug nelfinavir.

See also

Notes

External links

Companies based in New York City | Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange | Dow Jones Industrial Average | Fortune 1000 | Multinational companies | Pharmaceutical companies of the United States | 1849 establishments | Pfizer brands

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