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【medical-news】辉瑞计划裁减研究人员
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/business/14pfizer.html?ref=health
Pfizer Plans to Lay Off Researchers
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 13, 2009
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is cutting up to 800 research jobs this year, the company said on Tuesday, pruning positions not involved in the six disease areas that are its current focus.
The company is intent on cutting costs and finding new drugs as its biggest seller, the cholesterol treatment Lipitor, is heading toward the expiration of its patent in 2011.
The job cuts represent 5 to 8 percent of Pfizer’s approximately 10,000 researchers worldwide, Raymond F. Kerins Jr., a Pfizer spokesman, said. “We’re methodically looking at our staffing and making decisions to ensure we have the best scientists in place, the best science, to meet our goals in the future,” he said.
Those goals include finding profits in six therapeutic areas: cancer, pain, inflammation, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.
Last year, Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker by sales, cut more than 10,000 jobs and announced it would drop research on cardiovascular disease, obesity and digestive disorders. The cuts announced on Tuesday were a result of reducing those areas of research and trying to raise productivity, Mr. Kerins said. They would reduce Pfizer’s overall work force to about 85,000.
Lipitor, the world’s best-selling drug at $13 billion a year, accounts for a fourth of Pfizer’s revenue. A follow-up cholesterol drug, torcetrapib, failed in 2006 when it was linked to cardiovascular disease and death in clinical trials, leaving a gash in Pfizer’s pipeline.
Many analysts predict that Pfizer will try to acquire smaller companies for new drugs.
Edward F. X. Hughes, a professor who teaches pharmaceutical business at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, said that Pfizer’s in-house research had cost billions and produced little for the market in recent years, making layoffs inevitable.
“It’s probably not the last of it,” Mr. Hughes said. “Their research activity has been, I think, particularly unrewarding. It just has not panned out.”
Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, said Pfizer’s problems were not unique. “Other companies need to do the same thing,” Mr. Gordon said. “It’s really hard to turn a research dollar into a profit dollar.” He predicted more layoffs in Pfizer’s sales force, too.
“It can’t be over yet,” he said. “It’s too soon and it’s too small. So I think you might see another 400 to 800 people in the next six to nine months also be not needed by the new, refocused Pfizer.”
Wall Street reacted on Tuesday by bidding Pfizer up 1.3 percent, to $17.59 a share, although that is still nearly 28 percent lower than the price a year ago. A Goldman Sachs report on Monday said Pfizer “more than any other pharma company, needs to take action and enact a fundamental change.”
The notice of long-rumored new layoffs was first reported on Tuesday on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Kerins said Pfizer managers began meeting with affected employees on Tuesday morning and would continue to do so into next week.
Asked about future layoffs, Mr. Kerins said, “To be very candid, this is clearly an ongoing process, and we’re always going to look for the more effective and efficient ways to run our company.”
Pfizer appointed a new chief executive, Jeffrey B. Kindler, in July 2006, and a new head of global research and development, Martin Mackay, in September 2007. Mr. Kindler promised to cut up to $2 billion in costs by the end of 2008 and made that goal, Mr. Kerins said.
Mr. Mackay told analysts last week that Pfizer still expected to have 24 to 28 compounds in late-stage clinical trials by the end of this year. 本人已认领该文编译，48小时后若未提交译文，请其他战友自由认领。 Pfizer Plans to Lay Off Researchers
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 13, 2009
辉瑞计划解雇研发人员
美联社
2009-01-13发布
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is cutting up to 800 research jobs this year, the company said on Tuesday, pruning positions not involved in the six disease areas that are its current focus.
The company is intent on cutting costs and finding new drugs as its biggest seller, the cholesterol treatment Lipitor, is heading toward the expiration of its patent in 2011.
制药巨头辉瑞公司今年正准备减少800个研发岗位，公司在星期二声明，削减的岗位中不包括他们正关注的六种疾病。公司的目的是降低开支，寻找类似于立普妥那样的新药，立普妥是辉瑞销售额最高的新药，其专利将于2011年过期。
The job cuts represent 5 to 8 percent of Pfizer’s approximately 10,000 researchers worldwide, Raymond F. Kerins Jr., a Pfizer spokesman, said. “We’re methodically looking at our staffing and making decisions to ensure we have the best scientists in place, the best science, to meet our goals in the future,” he said.
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-08-28 17:14
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