Pfizer to Cut 10,000 Jobs, Close Plants

Jeff Kindler, CEO of Pfizer, speaks at the opening of their R&D Analyst meeting presentations in Groton Conn., in this Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006 file photo. (Fred Beckham - AP)

Pressure on Pfizer has intensified since safety issues forced it to halt development of the star drug in its pipeline, which was slated to replace Lipitor as it loses patent protection as early as 2010.

Antidepressant Zoloft lost patent protection last year and its sales sank 79 percent to $166 million during the fourth quarter. This year, Pfizer will face generic competition on blood-pressure medicine Norvasc, which brought in $4.9 billion in sales last year, and allergy treatment Zyrtec, with $1.6 billion in revenue in 2006.

Kindler acknowledged that the company couldn't cut its way to growth.

Analysts were generally impressed with the plan, saying it shows that Kindler is acting swiftly to address the various challenges Pfizer faces. "They listed all the right things to do, but ultimately they need to deliver," said Barbara Ryan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

Bert Hazlett, a managing director at BMO Capital Markets, said it would take some time to see if Pfizer made enough cuts, and much of that would depend on sales from existing and new products.

The sites in Michigan employ about 2,300 people, while the plant being closed in the Brooklyn borough of New York employs 600 people. Only 25 jobs will be lost in Nebraska. Pfizer said many of the Michigan workers will be offered jobs elsewhere in the company.

Pfizer's fourth-quarter earnings report, issued earlier Monday, illustrated the company's woes. Net income for the period rose sharply because of the $16.6 billion sale of its consumer health care business last month, resulting in an after-tax gain of $7.9 billion. However, after adjusting for that gain and other items, Pfizer's earnings fell 15 percent on flat sales.

U.S. sales of Lipitor, Pfizer's top-selling drug, slipped 6 percent to $1.95 billion. Last summer, Zocor, a rival cholesterol treatment made by Merck & Co., lost patent protection and insurers have pushed the cheaper versions of that drug over Lipitor when appropriate.

Ian Read, president of Pfizer's Worldwide Pharmaceutical Operations, predicted modest revenue growth for Lipitor this year as the company's sales representatives aggressively point out its advantages over its competitors. Lipitor revenues for the year rose 6 percent to $12.89 billion.

As insurers and the government pressure pharmaceutical companies to keep prices down and refuse to pay for some new treatments, drug makers are taking bigger risks to find new types of medicines. But their attempts can fail. Last year, safety issues forced Pfizer to scrap its drug torcetrapib, a novel cholesterol treatment, after spending $800 million developing it.

Pfizer's own labs haven't been very productive and the company hasn't introduced a blockbuster since it discovered Viagra in 1998.

Viagra, which accounted for $1.66 billion in sales last year, has come under pressure because of competition from Cialis, which is made by Eli Lilly and Co. and ICOS Corp., and Levitra, marketed by Schering-Plough Corp. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

Dr. John LaMattina, president of Pfizer Global Research and Development, said he wasn't satisfied with the company's development performance. To improve its success, he said Pfizer would end discovery efforts in dermatology and gastroenterology because the funds could be better used elsewhere.

LaMattina said the company would also centralize research efforts so work on any one disease is handled at one location. For example, in the past Pfizer conducted cancer research at six different sites, which LaMattina said only increased costs without improving productivity.

Vice chairman David Shedlarz said he knew analysts wanted more details on its collaboration and acquisition strategy but said it wouldn't be a savvy move to be especially forthcoming.

"The more specific, the more the price of the deal goes up," Shedlarz said.

For the fourth quarter, Pfizer's net income soared to $9.45 billion, or $1.32 per share, from $2.73 billion, or 37 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding the gain from the sale of the consumer division, earnings totaled $3.05 billion, or 43 cents per share, down from an adjusted $3.59 billion, or 49 cents a share, a year ago. The earnings beat the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial by a penny per share.

Revenue was essentially flat at $12.60 billion compared with $12.55 billion a year ago. Analysts expected sales of $12.62 billion.