With sales for several key drugs plummeting, Pfizer is moving ahead with a plan to re-create itself.
As part of its fourth quarter earnings statement, the pharma giant reported a net loss of $337 million. Part of the decline was related to the revenue it lost when it spun off a consumer-health business with GlaxoSmithKline in August. Several of Pfizer’s key revenue drivers also fell off the patent cliff last year. Sales for the blockbuster, Lyrica, for example, plummeted by 67 percent in Q4.
Pfizer is now planning a venture with Mylan that involves spinning off its unit that sells older drugs under the name Upjohn into a new company called Viatris by the middle of this year.
Then, as part of its long-term restructuring plan, Pfizer plans to become a smaller, more nimble, research-focused company for novel, patent-protected therapies targeting oncology, rare disorders and immune diseases. Sales for that part of Pfizer’s business were up by 7 percent in Q4. Pfizer also increased its R&D spend by 15 percent year-over-year to $2.8 billion to support the shift in its business strategy.
