Date: December 5, 2006

With the drug manufacturing company Pfizer Incl. increasingly losing integrity in the research and development of drugs, there has not been a single blockbuster drug produced by the company since 1998, when its hit product Viagra was manufactured.

Pfizer has recently stopped the development of its cholesterol treatment torcetrapib after the occurrence of a number of deaths and other complications in the trial phase of the drug. Another significant blow to Pfizer is that the cholesterol treatment Liptor produced by the company is on the verge of losing patent protection by 2010. The expirations of other drug patents are bound to lead to a decrease in the total revenue of $14 billion by 2007.

In the New York Stock Exchange, the shares of the company also decreased by $2.96 and stopped at $24.90 and now the market analysts are pondering as to which companies Pfizer might purchase in order to save itself.

On buying the smaller drug companies Pfizer can gain the drugs that are under development by the company. Pfizer is not lacking in wealth as the company still possess a cash amount of $13 billion and certain short term assets and by the end of 2006 it is likely to acquire an amount of$13.5 billion by selling its consumer products division to Johnson & Johnson.

Source: syracuse.com

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