Click here to watch Bloomberg's latest update. Lipitor weakness was a key factor in lower sales figures, the company says. CEO Kindler's remarks shone a brief, if unaccustomed spotlight on manufacturing, with an emphasis on the need to improve product life cycle management, something that experts agree the industry as a whole needs to do much better.
Below, excerpts from the CEO's statements:
..."We continue to transform our global manufacturing network to improve efficiency and reduce overall cost. We have reduced our network of plants to 60 from 93 four years ago. We have also announced significant additional closures and divestitures. The cumulative impact will be a more focused, streamlined and competitive manufacturing operation, with less than 50% of our plants and a reduction of 35% of our manufacturing employees compared to 2003. Further, we currently outsource the manufacture of approximately 17% of our products on a cost basis and plan to increase this substantially by 2010.
In R&D, we are actively balancing the actions required to achieve our cost savings targets with those required to ensure enhanced R&D productivity. In January, we announced plans to close five R&D sites as part of our efforts to rationalize our facilities footprint. To date, approximately two-thirds of the portfolio projects that are moving between sites have been transferred and are being actively pursued in their new site.
The remainder of the early-stage portfolio projects will be transferred by the end of the third quarter of 2007; and the late-stage project transfers will be complete by the end of
2007, with minimal interruption in the progress of development. Further, the vast majority of colleagues in scientific and technical roles from sites that are closing or in therapeutic areas that are consolidating who have been offered the opportunity to transfer to another site have agreed to relocate.
We recently received FDA approval for Lyrica for the management of fibromyalgia, one of the most common chronic pain conditions. Within weeks of approval, we launched the new indication with our specialty field force and a nationwide public service announcement in collaboration with the National Fibromyalgia Association, the leading national organization for fibromyalgia patient education and advocacy. This fast-to-market approach reflects how our new U.S. business structure is giving us more speed and agility in the marketplace.
We are delivering on our goal to secure external sources of revenue and innovative alliances to supplement our pipeline.
In addition to the collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop and commercialize apixaban, we have expanded our efforts in securing early-stage product candidates and
technology, particularly with the establishment of the Pfizer Incubator in La Jolla, California, and the signing of an agreement with Fabrus LLC to be the first tenant in the Incubator. During the two-year term, Fabrus will work to develop novel antibody libraries and ways to screen them
against biological targets.
We are demonstrating our capacity to successfully collaborate with our customers, payers, regulators and the larger medical community. Our recent agreement with Express Scripts, Inc. that adds Lipitor to the U.S. pharmacy benefits manager's preferred drug list will increase patient access to this leading medicine. With the expertise and knowledge we have in marketing Chantix, one of the most successful new-product launches, we have partnered with regulators and independent medical organizations to support a smoke-free environment and
to support the expansion of coverage to include uninsured patients.
"As we continue to put our foundation for the future in place, the entire management team is working tirelessly to identify ways to improve the performance and outlook for Pfizer," said Kindler. "We're examining a whole range of possibilities that will shape the company over the next five to 10 years as accelerating change drives the
worldwide healthcare market in new and important ways. Here are some
of the strategic elements that build on our immediate priorities while
providing a framework for our longer-term opportunities.
"First, we're revitalizing our internal R&D productivity. We've focused R&D to improve productivity and give discovery and development teams more flexibility and clearer goals. We are committing considerable resources to promising therapeutic areas including
oncology, diabetes, and neurological disorders, among others. And
we're working hard to identify the next scientific leader for our R&D
organization, which is one of the world's exceptional medical research
organizations.
"The second is focused business development. We've undergone a thorough assessment of every therapeutic area and prioritized them. We are now in the process of looking at the gaps we've identified and accelerating programs we already have. We intend to be opportunistic on the best products, product candidates and technologies, as you've seen with apixaban, our collaboration with the Scripps Institute and the Pfizer Incubator - among other recent actions.
"Third is building a major presence in biotherapeutics. The majority of our drugs will continue to consist of small molecules; this has always been a core strength of our company. But large molecules must also be a very important part of our future -- they involve some of the most promising R&D technology and cutting-edge science in medical research. We are looking to integrate our investments, R&D and existing internal capabilities with disciplined business development.
"The fourth is driving innovation in product life cycle management. We're challenging our business model and examining it from all angles. We see opportunities to better manage our products' growth and development through their entire time on the market, and to
innovate our "go to market" promotional and commercial strategies. We also see ways to further enhance the value of mature products as well as those close to losing their exclusivity, and to create product line extensions. And we are also looking at new ways to accelerate our high-quality, low cost manufacturing initiatives.
"Fifth is stepping up our focus and investments in emerging markets, especially in Eastern Europe and Asia, where changing demographics and economics will drive growing demand for high-quality healthcare and offer a great deal of potential for our products.
"And finally, we see complementary opportunities in products and technologies that have the potential to add value to our core pharmaceutical offerings. There are many possible ways for us to take our new pharmaceutical products and enhance them with the medical
technologies of the future, so that we help advance the practice of
medicine and increase the value of our products for patients."
