Pfizer to lay off 10,000 workers, close plants

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 revenue 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.

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 development and acquisition strategy but said it wouldn’t help 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.

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