Pfizer to Double Hiring in Japan to Boost Viagra, Nikkei Says
Tokyo, Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Pfizer Inc. of U.S., will more than double its annual hiring to as many as 300 new recruits a year in Japan in the next five years, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported, without citing sources. The company will boost the workforce to strengthen its sales and development force for impotence drug Viagra, on sale from next month, and other drugs to be introduced. Pfizer's move comes as rival Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd., Japan's largest drug maker, will slash 10 percent of its workforce by March 2001 and other competitors cut jobs as well, the newspaper said.
Viagra became the world's fastest-growing prescription drug after its introduction last year in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. The drug generated sales of $788 million between its debut the first week of April and Dec. 31. (Nihon Keizai, 2/28, p.7) |
