Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Pfizer - Exubera: sales forecasts cuts

Bespak Plc, a U.K. maker of inhalers for Pfizer Inc., said profit will be little changed this fiscal year because Pfizer reduced the sales outlook for its Exubera insulin treatment.

Production of inhalers for Pfizer's Exubera insulin will decline in the current year, Bespak said today. Sales of valves for ozone-depleting CFC formulations also dropped in the U.S. as rules phased out that type of inhaler, the company said.

Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, and its partner Nektar Therapeutics lowered sales forecasts for Exubera. Bespak has notified 160 workers in Milton Keynes, England, that they may lose their jobs because of the sales outlook for Exubera, Chief Executive Mark Throdahl said today in an interview.

``We don't expect we will have 160 redundancies,'' Throdahl said. ``Frankly, we don't know. We're using the time to talk to our partner. The Exubera situation remains very fluid and the U.S. consumer advertising campaign had just begun.''

More at Bloomberg

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