Pfizer aimed at Wyeth

The absorption can cost the company more than $ 60 billion leader in American pharmacy Pfizer Inc. It is negotiating on the acquisition of one of the largest Wyeth drug manufacturers in the United States. As reported on Friday The Wall Street Journal, the amount of the transaction may exceed $ 60 billion.

This figure is called on the fact that the Wyeth market capitalization is about $ 52 billion, and the average premium on the pharmaceutical market usually ranges from 20%. More accurate amounts are not yet voiced, as the parties are refrained from official comments on a possible transaction. Payment will most likely be made in cash and shares.

Analysts believe that the purchase of WYETH should allow Pfizer to restructure, which is necessary for the company in connection with the upcoming Lipitor patent protection loss in 2011. Wyeth itself has recently created a strategic union with a private biopharmaceutical company Santaris to develop drugs based on RNA (ribonucleic acid) for three years. Santaris Pharma has a promising unit engaged in nucleic acid -based development, which, of course, attracts Pfizer.

In the Russian representative office, the possibility of a transaction is not commented. At the same time, the market participants, speaking of its prospects, note that it may not give a powerful synergistic effect. As the DSM Group General Director Alexander Kuzin told the Gazeta correspondent, "the meaning of absorption is more likely to reduce subsequent losses."

Note that the 60-billion transaction in the event of its implementation will not be record for the American pharmaceutical market. In 2000, Pfizer acquired the American company Warner-Lambert for $ 90 billion. Today, Pfizer owns such bestsellers as Nopback (amlodipin), Lipitor (atorvastatin), Diflucan (Fluconazole), healing (Celecoxib) and Viagra (Polydenenafil), each of which It brings over $ 1 billion annually. Meanwhile, in the coming years they will lose patent protection. The crisis was added to these circumstances. Earlier, Pfizer reported that he will reduce 800 out of 10 thousand employees involved in the company with research developments. The abbreviations have already taken place in laboratories located in the USA (Groton and La Joll) and Great Britain (sandwich).

In total, over the past two years, it has reduced more than 14 thousand jobs. But Pfizer's net profit in the nine months of 2008 increased by 45% - to $ 7.8 billion compared to $ 5.42 billion received a year earlier. At the same time, the revenue amounted to $ 35.9 billion and was 1% higher than the same indicator for the corresponding period of 2007, recorded at $ 35.5 billion. Pfizer capitalization is about $ 118 billion.

01/25/2009 / Irina Vlasova