Corporate News: Pfizer Wins Prevnar 13 Approval, In Quick Boost From Wyeth Deal
Rockoff, Jonathan D. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition [New York, N.Y] 25 Feb 2010: B.4. Turn on hit highlighting for speaking browsers by selecting the Enter button Hide highlighting
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Translate AbstractTranslate Press the Escape key to closeTranslate [[missing key: loadingAnimation]] The Food and Drug Administration approved Prevnar 13 for prevention of "pneumococcal" illnesses, such as ear infections, sepsis and meningitis, in infants and young children.
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Translate Full textTranslate Press the Escape key to closeTranslate [[missing key: loadingAnimation]] Turn on search term navigationTurn on search term navigation A new version of the Prevnar childhood vaccine won regulators' approval Wednesday, giving maker Pfizer Inc. a quick and important lift from its takeover of rival Wyeth last year. The Food and Drug Administration approved Prevnar 13 for prevention of "pneumococcal" illnesses, such as ear infections, sepsis and meningitis, in infants and young children. An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention swiftly recommended the vaccine's routine use. Pfizer has been counting on the new vaccine, and the approval marks an important early success for the Wyeth deal. After struggling to find new blockbusters, Pfizer bought Wyeth for $68 billion to help offset sales it will lose when cholesterol drug Lipitor loses patent protection late next year. The older Prevnar 7 had helped make Wyeth attractive to Pfizer and had been a top performer, generating $2.7 billion in 2008 sales, according to the most recent results available. The new Prevnar, which protects against more strains of illness, is expected to be an even more significant product. Pfizer plans to charge a 30% premium for it over the previous vaccine, with plans to file for the adult indication in the U.S. and Europe before the end of the year and expand into countries where Prevnar 7 hasn't been sold. "That would represent a significant expansion of the population" of users, said Mark Swindell, Pfizer's president of vaccines.
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Health insurers must decide whether to reimburse for the pricier vaccine, but they usually follow CDC recommendations. Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold projects that Prevnar 13 will have $5.9 billion in sales in 2015, more than any other single Pfizer product. "We think it is the most important value driver for the future of Pfizer," she said. Lipitor has been Pfizer's top-selling drug, accounting for about a fifth of the company's revenue last year with $11.4 billion in sales. The Wyeth deal has generally drawn praise for boosting Pfizer's product mix, particularly the addition of vaccines like Prev nar as well as consumer and animal-health items. Pfizer has also used the takeover to cut an additional $4 billion in costs and to reorganize the company into business units, which Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler says will help drive future growth. Mr. Kindler expressed confidence in a recent interview that the company's cost cutting and research and development would also pay dividends. "We have a very exciting late-stage pipeline," he said. Concerns remain about the company's long-term prospects, and Prevnar 13 isn't expected to provide a complete fix for the loss of Pfizer's blockbuster revenue stream. And analysts question how the combined company will be able to grow at its large size, let alone recapture the high-single-digit and low-double-digit growth during its heady years. The vaccine isn't "enough of the answer to reinvigorate the type of growth we saw from Pfizer in the late 1990s," said Damien Conover, a Morningstar analyst. Approval of Prevnar 13 could help ease investor concerns by showing an immediate benefit from the Wyeth acquisition, some analysts say. Pfizer said it will charge private buyers $108 a dose, a 30% increase from the price of Prevnar 7. The company plans to begin shipping supplies the week of March 15. Prevnar 13 should help Pfizer fend off competition to the franchise. British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC has been touting the effectiveness of its Synflorix against three strains not covered by Prevnar 7, since Synflorix was approved for use in Canada in 2008 and in Europe last year. Prevnar 13 covers the additional strains, along with three other strains that Synflorix doesn't protect against. ---
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Jennifer Corbett Dooren contributed to this article. Credit: By Jonathan D. Rockoff Word count: 607 (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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