Pfizer Has Never Been Stronger, Steere Tells Shareholders
Company's Record Over the Past Decade and Warner-Lambert Combination Will
Uniquely Equip' Pfizer to Continue 'Legacy of Achievement'
NEW YORK, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) has strong fundamentals, and is advancing in every area, William C. Steere, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, said today at the company's 2000 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Speaking to a crowd of 2,000 shareholders and guests at the Grand Hyatt hotel in New York City, Mr. Steere said, "Nineteen ninety-nine -- the year in which we celebrated our 150th year of operation -- crowned a decade of extraordinary achievement for Pfizer."
During that time, he noted, prescription pharmaceutical revenue increased five-fold, R&D expenditures increased six-fold, reported net income increased four-fold and the price of the company's stock increased by 10-fold.
"Throughout every year of the last decade," he said, "the growth of our pharmaceutical revenue has surpassed that of the industry, and in 1999, it more than doubled the industry rate.
"For the 50th year in a row," he continued, "Pfizer sales increased, and in 1999, our total revenues topped $16.2 billion, a 20-percent increase over the previous year."
"Pfizer is advancing in every area," Mr. Steere said. "Our fundamentals are strong. Our pipeline is broad and deep, and our field forces are second to none."
"Our prospects have never been brighter and our future has never been more promising," he said. "In 1999, Pfizer celebrated 150 years of tremendous growth and achievement. I believe that in the next 150 years, we will achieve even more. By joining forces with Warner-Lambert, we will create a company that is uniquely equipped to carry Pfizer's proud legacy of achievement into the next millennium."
Henry A. McKinnell, Ph.D., president and chief operating officer of Pfizer Inc and president of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group, and John F. Niblack, Ph.D., vice chairman of Pfizer Inc, also addressed the meeting.
"Within our worldwide pharmaceutical segment," Dr. McKinnell said, "new Pfizer products, established in-line products and co-promoted products helped increase total revenues by 22 percent in 1999. Ten key products, representing about 80 percent of our pharmaceutical revenues, together grew by 31 percent."
Nine of those 10 key products, he noted, have significant remaining patent protection in the U.S., with expirations ranging from 2004 through 2013.
The Consumer Health Care Group saw sales increase by 7 percent during 1999, he said. "In addition to providing convenient treatment, self-medication can extend the commercial life of a pharmaceutical well beyond its patent expiration," he explained.
Dr. McKinnell also cited the Animal Health Group as, "the most active and most productive animal health operation in the global industry, with research in over a dozen therapeutic areas for both livestock and companion animals."
He said that Pfizer has "a growing pipeline of genetically engineered vaccines, gene-therapy products and novel, convenient-to-use medications for animals that could dramatically expand the standard of care and the overall market for companion animals and livestock."
Regarding the pending merger with Warner-Lambert, Dr. McKinnell said, "The merger brings together the industry's two fastest-growing major companies. Together, on a pro-forma basis for 1999, the 'new Pfizer' had nearly $28 billion in combined revenues, with nearly $21 billion in prescription pharmaceutical sales."
With Pfizer by itself already solidly within the top ranks of the industry in pharmaceutical sales, the combination with Warner-Lambert will propel Pfizer well ahead of the rest of the industry, he said. Pfizer was the 14th largest company in the world in total pharmaceutical sales in 1990.
"But it is important to emphasize that the 'new Pfizer' will be not just bigger, but better," he said. "Our already superior growth prospects will be augmented by an enhanced global reach and by immediate opportunities from our complementary product lines."
The combined companies will have 13 pharmaceutical products with sales in excess of $500 million each, eight with more than $1 billion in sales in 1999 and nine products which are number one in their therapeutic category, he said. The addition of the Warner-Lambert consumer organization will result in "a formidable platform for prescription to over-the-counter switches," he added.
"Our planning for the integration of Pfizer and Warner-Lambert has focused on three essential tasks," he said. "Maximizing our new product opportunities to increase our sales, eliminating redundancies and adopting best practices to reduce our costs, and building a world-class organization capable of strong and sustained growth."
Dr. McKinnell concluded, "It is clear that the merger provides substantial benefits to shareholders of both companies in terms of improved financial returns and accelerated earnings growth. Besides giving us a broad, young portfolio, the merger should yield significant cost savings going forward. These cost savings alone will accelerate our projected compounded annual net income growth through 2002 to at least 25 percent, excluding one-time transition and restructuring charges. The result: A truly unique business combination in which the best -- Pfizer and Warner-Lambert -- get better."
Dr. Niblack highlighted the seven key products in the late-stage of the Pfizer development pipeline and discussed the integration of Warner-Lambert R&D into Pfizer.
Tikosyn, a treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF), was launched during the first quarter of 2000, and was the first new oral treatment for AF approved for use in the U.S. in the past 10 years. "It is an excellent therapeutic advance for highly symptomatic AF patients and is an important addition to our already substantial cardiovascular product portfolio," Dr. Niblack said.
Relpax, for the treatment of migraine headache, received an approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late last year, he said. "Clinical data show that within one hour of taking an oral dose of Relpax, up to 40 percent of patients with moderate or severe migraine experience significant or complete headache relief," Dr. Niblack said "Many see relief within 30 minutes." The company is about to file new data and analyses called for by FDA in the approvable letter, and expects to engage in final discussions over labeling in the Summer.
"Last month we re-submitted our new drug application (NDA) for oral Zeldox," Dr. Niblack said, explaining that FDA had wanted an additional study done comparing Zeldox with other antipsychotic drugs. "Zeldox is effective across its dose range in treating a broad spectrum of psychotic symptoms," he said, "and has been shown to be effective in long-term disease management. In contrast to some of the other newer antipsychotic agents, Zeldox causes little to no weight gain and has a favorable effect on cholesterol and triglyceride levels."
The company plans to file an NDA for Vfend, for the treatment of serious fungal infections, this year, Dr. Niblack said. "Vfend will provide new hope for patients who contract serious life-threatening fungal infections such as invasive aspergillosis, resistant candidiasis and infections of the brain and eye."
Inhaled insulin, a new technology for the treatment of diabetes Pfizer is developing in collaboration with Aventis and Inhale Therapeutic Systems, is well along in clinical development and an NDA filing with FDA is expected next year, Dr. Niblack said.
"Our clinical data show that when used to treat insulin-dependent or Type 1 diabetes, this patient-friendly insulin delivery system is as effective as subcutaneous injections of short-acting insulin," he said.
Pfizer is co-developing valdecoxib, a second-generation cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2) inhibitor for the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and pain, with Pharmacia Corporation, which is scheduled to file an NDA for the drug near the end of this year, Dr. Niblack said. The first COX-2 inhibitor, Celebrex, was discovered by Pharmacia's Searle unit, which co-promotes the drug with Pfizer.
Darifenacin is a new Pfizer agent for the treatment of overactive bladder, which afflicts more than 50 million people in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Studies are underway at 50 centers in Europe, with more to begin in the U.S. later this year, Dr. Niblack said.
In addition to these advanced candidates, he said, "Pfizer has a full pipeline of compounds in earlier stages of clinical development and in discovery. We also have research projects underway to explore new uses for our marketed drugs, to generate new product formulations, to investigate new patient populations (such as pediatrics) and to develop convenient new product combinations."
After the integration of Warner-Lambert's R&D organization, Pfizer Global Research & Development will be "the largest pharmaceutical research and development operation in the world," he said, "with approximately 12,000 employees, facilities in more than 20 countries, more than 130 experimental drugs in development and a budget of some $4.7 billion."
"When the integration is completed," Dr. Niblack said, "the combination of our two great research operations will clearly position us as one of the premier, privately funded biomedical research organizations in the world. It's an exciting prospect. I expect that the new Pfizer Global R&D organization will set a new standard for quality and productivity for our industry."
SOURCE Pfizer Inc
CO: Pfizer Inc
ST: New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut
IN: MTC
SU:
04/27/2000 11:54 EDT prnewswire.com |
