Pfizer and Pharmacia create world's largest pharma company
Pfizer and Pharmacia Corporation have now combined their operations to create the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical company and the world's third largest company overall in terms of market capitalisation.
Pfizer and Pharmacia Corporation have now combined their operations to create the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical company and the world's third largest company overall in terms of market capitalisation.
'With Pharmacia, we are bringing together two strong and complementary product portfolios that combined will give us unprecedented therapeutic reach,' said Karen Katen, executive vice president and president of Pfizer's global pharmaceutical business.
Pfizer's portfolio spans therapeutic areas including cancer, epilepsy, depression, and high blood pressure, and includes 14 medicines that are number one in their therapeutic category. Ten of its products had individual sales in excess of US$1bn in 2002. Pfizer's Global Research and Development (PGRD) is the largest privately funded biomedical organisation in the world. PGRD has some 200 projects in the development pipeline, including more than 100 distinct new molecular entities and more than 100 projects to evaluate new indications or delivery systems for currently marketed medicines. Pfizer expects to submit 20 new major medicines for regulatory approval over a five-year period up to 2006.
The company will also have more than 400 projects in its discovery pipeline and is building the largest distinct library of chemical compounds in the industry.
Pfizer expects to achieve merger-related cost savings of $2.5bn (€2.3bn) in 2005. In addition, Pfizer recently completed the sale of three non-core businesses, Tetra, Adams and Schick, for a total of approximately $5.4bn (€5.0bn) in cash.