NEWS OF THE WEEK
A PIPELINE PUSH PHARMACEUTICALS: Pfizer cuts
sales staff by 20% as it touts its research program
P
Kindler
FIZER, the world's largest drug company, followed the announcement of a 20% reduction in its U.S. sales force last week with a briefing for analysts on advances in its R&D pipeline. The staff cut of about 2,200 jobs, an overall 2% workforce reduction, results from a strategic review announced by Pfizer in October, following the replacement of GEO Henry A. McKinnell Jr. by Jeffrey B. Kindler, a former General Electric executive. Industry analysts say the cuts are in response to a drop in new drug introductions since the industry's heyday of the 1990s, when Pfizer and its competitors ramped up their sales forces. Kindler told analysts, however, that the company's research efforts, combined with an agi gressive acquisition, partnerZ# »hi ship, and licensing push, will result in a significant stream of I new drugs beginning in 2010. He said Pfizer currently has 242 development programs spanning 11 therapeutic areas—the largest pipeline in its history. LaMattina "The depth of our midstage
RECLASSIFYING NANOSILVER Silver nanop articles from Samsung's SilverCare washing machine will soon have to be registered with EPA as a pesticide.
REGULATION: EPA will now consider nanosilver used in washing machines as pesticides
S
ILVER—claimed to be nanoparticles—employed to kill bacteria in washing machines will now be regulated as a pesticide, EPA announced late last month. Currently, washers that generate silver ions are classified as devices and are not required to be registered with EPA. The products at issue are Samsung washing machines that are advertised as using silver ions to kill 99.9% of odor-causing bacteria. This technology, called SilverCare, generates ions by applying current to two silver plates housed next to the machine's tub. The ions are then directed into the tub during the wash cycle. "EPA has determined that the Samsung silver ion-generating washing machine is subject to regWWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
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pipeline gives us confidence that we can generate a steady stream of new products that will address significant unmet medical needs," Kindler said. John LaMattina, president of global R&D at Pfizer, told analysts that the company's Phase III drug portfolio "will grow dramatically and may even triple from 2006 to 2009." He said he is targeting four new product introductions per year beginning in 2011. The company's main areas of focus include cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine diseases; infectious disease; oncology; and neuroscience. Its lead drug candidate combines torcetrapib, which raises levels of so-called good cholesterol, with Lipitor, Pfizer's topselling bad-cholesterol-lowering drug. LaMattina said the Phase III product "has the potential to change the face of cardiovascular medicine." Michael Krensavage, a drug industry analyst with Raymond James & Associates, acknowledges Pfizer's R&D headway, noting its recent launch of Exubera, an inhaled insulin, and Chantix, a smoking-cessation pill. "Pfizer has become more successful in R&D," he says. "Spending $7.5 billion a year on R&D, it should be more successful." As to the staff reduction, Krensavage says it reflects a shift in management under Kindler. McKinnell, he contends, was slow to recognize that Pfizer was "no longer a growth company." The analyst adds that Pfizer, a bellwether among the drug majors, is leading what is likely to be a trend of sales staff reductions in the pharmaceutical industry. "It's like the beginning of nuclear disarmament," he says.-RICKMULLIN
istration requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act," according to an EPA statement. The agency decided to change the classification of the washer because it releases silver ions into the laundry "for the purpose of killing microbial pests," the statement explains. For its part, Samsung has pledged to comply with the change of policy. "Samsung has and will continue to work with EPA and state regulators regarding regulation of the silver washing machine," the company says. Several groups concerned about the environmental impact of nanoparticles of silver had asked EPA to reevaluate the way products containing such materials are regulated. For example, environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) noted in a letter to EPA that there are currently more than 40 products on the market in addition to Samsung's washing machine that have made or implied claims of using nanoparticles of silver to kill bacteria. NRDC praised EPA for taking what it called a "step in the right direction" by reclassifying nanosilver generated in a washer as a pesticide. The group also said this revised policy should lead to EPA reassessing other products that use nanoparticles of silver for their biocidalqualities.-SUSAN MORRISSEY
DECEMBER 4, 2 0 0 6
