Welicht weet niet iedereen dat Pfizer 's werelds grootste en best draaiende farmaceut is. Daarom nog wat recent (maar wat ouder) nieuws.
Sopheon heeft echt een goeie slag geslagen. Het verbaasd me dat de koers niets doet op dit nieuws, terwijl we laatst zonder nieuws 'zo maar' naar de 0,35 schoten.
NEW YORK, April 16 -- Pfizer Inc and Pharmacia Corporation combined operations today, bringing together two of the world's fastest-growing and most innovative companies. The new Pfizer is the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical company.
The combination expands Pfizer's global pharmaceutical leadership, broadens its product base, and bolsters its research and development capacity. In addition to pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia enlarges Pfizer's portfolio of leading consumer healthcare brands and establishes its animal health business as number one in the world.
"Today we go forward as a single company, providing more products to help more patients than any other pharmaceutical company has ever done before," said Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Hank McKinnell. "On any given day, we estimate that nearly 40 million people around the world are treated with a Pfizer medicine. Our new company is the global leader in discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines and healthcare solutions essential to improving global public health and addressing unmet medical needs."
Trading of the combined company began today on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:PFE). By market capitalization, Pfizer is now the world's third largest company.
Combined Product Portfolio Features 14 Therapeutic Leaders; Sales Force is "Distinct Advantage" for Sustaining Growth
Pfizer's portfolio of innovative medicines spans diseases as diverse as cancer, epilepsy, depression, and high blood pressure, and includes 14 medicines that are number one in their therapeutic category.
"With Pharmacia, we are bringing together two strong and complementary product portfolios that combined will give us unprecedented therapeutic reach. Further, our increased resources, in terms of science as well as sales and marketing expertise, will allow us to enhance the value of that portfolio for the good of all of our stakeholders, particularly healthcare professionals and patients," said Karen Katen, executive vice president and president of Pfizer's global pharmaceutical business.
"The depth and experience of the Pfizer sales force is a distinct competitive advantage for sustaining growth, and we'll use that to increase the already strong positions of Pharmacia in oncology, endocrinology and ophthalmology. Our united sales force will also be positioned to grow the COX-2 portfolio of Bextra, Celebrex and parecoxib (Dynastat) around the world."
In an environment of increased global interdependency, the need to improve global healthcare has never been greater, Katen said. For example, more than 12 million people worldwide die each year from heart disease and stroke; an estimated 375 million people worldwide suffer from some form of arthritis, and glaucoma affects an estimated 66 million people worldwide.
"Our cholesterol-lowering medicine, Lipitor, is a perfect example of the challenge and opportunity we face. Today, it benefits 28 million patients. But there are an estimated 150 million people worldwide who still are underdiagnosed or undertreated for high cholesterol. It is incumbent upon us to reach these people, and to make all of our therapies and treatments available to people in need in every community.
"Overall, it's a matter of responding to unmet medical needs. Patients want and need the healthcare information, the services and the medicines that will enable them to live longer, healthier lives. And that is exactly what we at Pfizer can deliver," Katen said.
While Pfizer has 10 medicines with individual sales of over $1 billion in 2002, meeting unmet medical needs requires also investing in products that serve smaller, but underserved patient populations. One example is Vfend, a new treatment for rare but very serious invasive fungal infections. Pfizer is also partnering with Serono Inc. to offer a new multiple sclerosis treatment, Rebif, to patients with multiple sclerosis. Rebif was discovered and developed by Serono.
Expanded Global Leadership for Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products and Animal Health
Pfizer will be the human pharmaceutical leader in all major geographic markets: the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Japan.
"We are positioned to expand our global leadership on all fronts. We will continue to train and develop the leading sales force in the industry; this will facilitate the expanded product rollouts in important markets such as Japan, where three major Pharmacia products - Detrol, Celebrex and Inspra - await regulatory approval. We are developing new partnerships with governments, policy makers and healthcare organizations in Europe to highlight the importance of healthy aging, and we are actively seeking productive partnerships with forward-looking healthcare institutions around the world," Katen said.
Pfizer Consumer Health will be among the largest global consumer healthcare businesses, with a portfolio spanning oral care, tobacco dependence, upper respiratory conditions (including allergy and sinusitis), hair growth, digestive health, eye care and skin/first-aid care. Among the many well-known brands are Listerine, Nicorette/Nicotrol, Benadryl, Sudafed and Rogaine.
Pfizer Animal Health (PAH) is the world's leading discoverer and marketer of products to prevent and treat diseases in livestock and companion animals. PAH's Revolution/Stronghold is the first and only topical medicine that protects both cats and dogs against fleas and heartworm through simple, once-a-month administration. Pharmacia's Excenel/Naxcel is an anti-infective for respiratory disease and infections in livestock and companion animals.
Pfizer R&D to Apply New Technologies, Focus on Productivity
Pfizer's Global Research and Development (PGRD) is the largest privately funded biomedical organization in the world. PGRD has over 200 projects in the development pipeline, including over 100 distinct new molecular entities and more than 100 projects to evaluate new indications or delivery systems for currently marketed medicines. Pfizer expects to submit 20 new major medicines for regulatory approval over a five-year interval through 2006. Pfizer is currently developing new drugs for the treatment of atherosclerosis, diabetes, osteoporosis, breast cancer, neuropathic pain, epilepsy, anxiety disorders, Parkinson's Disease, and nicotine withdrawal, among many other areas of unmet medical need.
Pfizer will also have over 400 projects in its discovery pipeline and is building the largest distinct library of chemical compounds in the industry. This worldwide organization is now poised to sustain Pfizer's future growth well into the next decade.
"Our industry is entering a period of momentous change and opportunity, an era when the sequencing of the human genome combined with new technologies holds great promises for developing new medicines," said Peter B. Corr, senior vice president of science and technology. "The integration of Pharmacia will enhance our ability to turn scientific advances into products that both extend lives and also improve the quality of life for patients worldwide. Only a small perce