Pfizer says it's examinining whether to separate its management

By David Sell, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: January 31, 2013

Pfizer Inc. chief executive officer Ian Read said Tuesday that the world's largest seller of pharmaceutical products will keep examining whether to one day separate the management of its "innovative" drugs from "established" drugs, with patents that have expired.

Since digesting the $69 billion acquisition of Wyeth in 2009, Pfizer has been trying to get the most it can from its business operations while negating the loss of revenue from blockbuster drugs such as Lipitor, which now has generic competition.

In November 2012, Pfizer completed the sale of its nutrition business to Nestle for $11.8 billion and is planning to offer separate shares of stock for its animal health business. It is planning to sell separate shares of its animal health unit, calling the company Zoetis. Shares might begin trading Friday.

"I believe we'll move toward a separate management and at that point we'll be able to evaluate whether shareholders would prefer to have the option to invest in two distinct companies or not," Read said in a conference call with stock market analysts.

Pfizer is based in Manhattan, but has Philadelphia operations, including a facility in Collegeville.

Pfizer's full-year net income increased from $10.01 billion in 2011 to $14.57 billion in 2012. Its revenue decreased from $65.26 billion in 2011 to $58.97 billion in 2012.

Contact staff writer David Sell at dsell@ phillynews.com or 215-854-4506. Read his blog at www.philly.com/phillypharma and on Twitter @phillypharma.

 

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