Pfizer acquires Wyeth - what's next, Frost & Sullivan analysts comments

16 February 2009

Recent talks are about the recession, economic downturn, credit crunch and so on. However, the drug giant Pfizer made a remarkable start in  2009. It acquired its rival Big Pharma company Wyeth for about $68.0  billion in stock and cash (Marketletter February 2. This acquisition is  said to be the one of the biggest in pharmaceutical history. However,  would it have been better for Pfizer to have acquired Amgen instead of  Wyeth? asks Shabeer Hussain, program leader, pharmaceutical and  biotechnology, Healthcare Group, at Frost & Sullivan.

Behind the scene

Pfizer faces tough competition ahead from generics after the expiry of  its blockbuster drug Lipitor (atorvastatin) in 2011. Lipitor, a  cholesterol lowerer that generates around $13.0 billion a year, is  facing patent expiration in 2011. Pfizer is set to face big challenges  by 2012 not only from generics but also from investors because of the  decline in R&D productivity. Although its pipeline has 200 products,  there are no blockbusters to even the dent of around $30.0 billion left  by the patent expiry of 13 drugs by 2014.

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