The death of cholesterol drug Torcetrapib, which caused Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) stock to plunge 12% yesterday, has forced the company into purchasing growth rather than developing it. With the company's biggest drug, Lipitor, losing patent exclusivity in 2010, Pfizer must now hurry to acquire potential blockbuster drugs to maintain revenue, since its own pipeline is all but dried up. Company VP David Shedlarz said of the M&A market, "Now we will attack it with a greater sense of urgency."This desperation means overpaying for possible franchise drugs, which means a potential early Christmas for takeover targets. One such target, according to TheDeal.com [subscription required], is Sepracor (NASDAQ:SEPR), which makes sleep and allergy drugs. Another possible target, according to W.R. Hambrecht, is Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR), a biopharmaceutical company which makes drug delivery technologies.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-05-2006 @ 1:25PM
Sherman said...
Yes, Pfizer pulled one drug out of their tens of new drugs at the final stage of approval and will lose some sales. But big deal! There are many coming.
And Pfizer is cutting costs to increase the bottom line. With many new drugs in the final testing and cost reducing, the outlook of this company will be great. Remember also, this is the biggest drug company in the country and is so cash rich. One fail testing drug is not going to kill it.
12-05-2006 @ 3:27PM
Gerry said...
Isn't it better for Pfizer to withdraw further development of the drug in question than to put it on the market and have side effects from use of it? There will be other good drugs coming along in Pfizer's future.
12-16-2006 @ 2:08PM
l king said...
pfizer does the responable thing and people cannot handle it. if people would only invest instead of gamble the markets would be so much more rewarding. pfizer is a great company.