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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (6223)	11/6/1998 1:03:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer Backs '98 Net Cont Op View Of $1.95-$2.00/Shr By Melanie Trottman NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--In an aggressive push to become the No. 1 pharmaceutical products company, Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is launching new clinical development programs, exploring added indications for existing products and expanding its worldwide sales force. In a presentation to analysts Friday, the No. 3 pharmaceutical products company, based in New York, said the new clinical development programs could result in the launch of eight products within three years. "We've never been more clearly focused as a pharmaceutical company," Chairman and Chief Executive William Steere Jr. said. The company's divestiture of its medical technology businesses will help it focus fully on core competencies of prescription and self-medication pharmaceuticals for humans and animals. Previously, Pfizer had said it was comfortable with estimates of diluted earnings per share of $2.05 to $2.10 for 1998, but the divestiture of the medical technology businesses now indicates a range of $1.95 to $2 a share from continuing operations, excluding unusual and one-time items, said Chief Financial Officer David Shedlarz. The company, which reported sales of more than $11 billion in 1997, expects to invest about $2.2 billion on research and development in 1998. The company said efforts are underway to add value to its existing products, including the use of Viagra for female sexual dysfunction. Phase III studies for this indication are planned for 1999. Prescriptions of the blockbuster drug, launched in the U.S. in April, appear to have plateaued, Shedlarz said, but remain strong. Adding value to existing products, Shedlarz said, "is a key strategy and a key element of our overall revenue growth." New product launches are also crucial to Pfizer's growth. The next wave of products include Zeldex, a treatment for psychotic disorders; Tikosyn, a treatment for atrial fibrillation, a heart disorder; Celebrex, a COX-2 inhibitor; and Relpax, a treatment for migraine. Pfizer expects to begin launching these products even before its next patent expiration, which is for the drug Cardura, in the year 2000. In a departure from its history of not discussing its early-stage development, Pfizer discussed its exploration and new therapeutic areas that are "ripe for innovation." Those areas include cancer, therapies related to aging, and obesity. The company said it is expanding its worldwide pharmaceutical sales force, which will total 17,100 by early 1999. That number includes 5,400 employees in the U.S.

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (6223)	11/6/1998 2:01:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer Unveils Raft Of Early Stage Rx Drugs Friday November 6 12:56 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - news) disclosed Friday a plethora of early-stage experimental drugs, which the company said it hopes will make Pfizer the world's premier pharmaceutical company by the early 21st century. Meanwhile, Pfizer executives said they were comfortable that they will deliver diluted per share earnings of $1.95 to $2.00 from continuing operations, excluding nonrecurring and special items, in 1998. And they said Pfizer would likely have earnings growth in the fourth quarter of 1998 stronger than that seen in the third quarter. In an unusual move, Pfizer senior scientist John Niblack, unveiled the names and characteristics of many drugs that are currently in preclinical animal testing or being studied in human Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. Pfizer said that at least several of the more promising early-stage compounds were cancer drugs being developed in collaboration with OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:OSIP - news) Pfizer chief financial officer David Shedlarz told Wall Street analysts that Pfizer had leapfrogged to the third largest company in the world in global sales of prescription drugs, having been in ninth place at the beginning of the decade. He said that Pfizer now intends to become the largest pharmaceuticals player ''early in the next decade'' through sales of existing newer drugs and a raft of promising compounds in Pfizer's drug pipeline. dailynews.yahoo.com