Full articles reprinted from "The Pink Sheet" 9/29/2009
Pfizer's integration of Wyeth will progress much faster than previous integrations, with "significant announcements" expected within 30 to 60 days after the deal closes, Global R&D Head Martin Mackay said Sept. 22 during Windhover's Pharmaceutical Strategic Alliance Conference in New York City. Read on...
Full articles reprinted from "The Pink Sheet" 9/29/2009
Pfizer Expects Speedy Integration Of Wyeth, R&D Head Mackay Says Pfizer's integration of Wyeth will progress much faster than previous integrations, with "significant announcements" expected within 30 to 60 days after the deal closes, Global R&D Head Martin Mackay said Sept. 22 during Windhover's Pharmaceutical Strategic Alliance Conference in New York City.
The announcements, which will include bits about what therapeutic areas Pfizer will be working in and who will head those ventures, will come "way quicker than anything we've done in the past," Mackay noted.
Previously, Pfizer has accepted productivity hits as an outcome of acquisitions - evident through earlier deals with Pharmacopeia and Warner-Lambert - but now the company hardly can afford to take more. And Mackay asserted that this time, Pfizer is not going to.
Following Pfizer's $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth in January, the drug maker acknowledged plans to lower its R&D budget going forward.
In 2008, Pfizer/Wyeth spent a combined $11 billion on R&D, with Pfizer spending about $8 billion and Wyeth spending about $3 billion, but these figures are expected to dip once the companies are combined. That means that Pfizer/Wyeth will need to do more with less.
And innovation is especially important given that the pharma giant's most lucrative product Lipitor faces generics in 2011 with other brand patent losses expected in 2011 and 2012, including Aricept , Geodon and Caduet . Shortly after the Pfizer/Wyeth merger was announced, Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold said Pfizer is on track to lose 70 percent of its 2007 revenues by 2015, in total.
Pfizer is not alone; many drug makers are scrambling to replenish their portfolios with an industry-wide slowing of new drug approvals and a surge of upcoming patent expiries. Companies cannot afford to pour resources into several preclinical compounds, only to see them fail.
Bristol Talks Up 'String Of Pearls' At PSA
Bristol-Myers Squibb, for example, has established its "string of pearls" growth strategy to boost certain therapeutic areas and build its Phase III pipeline through deals.
Bristol's $2.4 billion deal with Medarex marks its eighth pearl and the company is still looking for more partnerships, said R&D President and Chief Scientific Officer Elliott Sigal at PSA. Bristol is gaining Medarex's late-stage cancer drug ipilimumab through the deal.
Sigal said Bristol aims to make sure compounds in development are developed with extensive value, adding that "biologics have been really key for us," such as Orencia . But unlike Bristol, Pfizer has opted to remain broadly diversified rather than having a more narrow therapeutic focus.
But Pfizer is taking some cues from biotechs, Mackay said. The drug maker increasingly relies on outsourcing, largely for its development operations (about 90 percent outsourced) and for its pharmaceutical sciences (about 60 percent outsourced), among other areas.
Phase II Is A 'Battlefield,' Mackay Says
Mackay also said Pfizer's efforts to lessen the amount of R&D resources that may end up wasted are making headway - an improvement compared to the '90s when many compounds were being developed and many failed in the process.
For example, several years ago, the company used to lose a lot of compounds in development because of pharmicokinetic challenges, he said, noting that he "can't remember the last time that happened."
Safety, though, remains a challenge even as drug makers conduct in vivo studies, which have helped researchers detect adverse events earlier in development. "The real battlefield is Phase II proof-of-concept studies," Mackay said, adding that at this stage it remains uncertain how a compound's efficacy and development are going to play out.
- Carlene Olsen
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