Pfizer CEO Says He Isn’t ‘Chasing Revenue’ in Big Deals as Patents Expire - Bloomberg

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said he won’t seek large deals to replace falling revenue, as the world’s biggest drugmaker loses patent exclusivity to drugs responsible for 60 percent of yearly sales.

“We are not going to chase revenue at the destruction of capital,” Read said today in a telephone interview. “We have geographic breadth, we have portfolio breadth, we have technology breadth. We never say never, but I don’t see why we would need that.”

Read has been shrinking the company by selling units and buying back shares, in contrast to his predecessors Jeffrey Kindler, who bought Wyeth for $64 billion in 2009, and Henry McKinnell, who bought Pharmacia for about the same price in 2002. Pfizer will still form partnerships and pursue companies with treatments in mid- to late-stage testing, Read said.

Pfizer, based in New York, faces competition from cheaper generic medicines to at least 19 drugs from 2010 through 2015, led by the cholesterol pill Lipitor, the world’s best-selling drug, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors have rewarded Read’s strategy for dealing with the acquisitions, with shares climbing about 14 percent since he took over on Dec. 5, more than double the return of the company’s U.S. peers.

Pfizer may also buy over-the-counter medicines to bolster its consumer health unit with ‘bolt-on’ deals that fit with existing product lines, said Chief Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio.

via bloomberg.com

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