Pfizer's Tanezumab Trial Suspensions: A Wider Issue

Simon King, healthcare analyst at Datamonitor, looks to the long-term impact of tanezumab trial suspensions:

Having acquired rival US Wyeth in late 2009, Pfizer's R&D spend is projected to reach $9.9 billion in 2010 versus a Big Pharma average of $6.3 billion based on Datamonitor forecasts.

With this in mind, the latest setback to tanezumab is a worrying development for Pfizer given that the company has faced an accumulation of negative news flow regarding its pipeline over the last 18 months. This follows the recent confirmation that the acute myeloid leukemia therapy Mylotarg is to be withdrawn from the US market.

While difficulties associated with successful R&D-to-market transition are clear and such setbacks remain common place across the industry landscape, Pfizer remains in a period of notable portfolio transition.

It desperately requires the translation of R&D investment into revenues if it is to offset losses associated with expiry-exposed products such as Lipitor which will lose patent exclusivity in 2011.

Latest Datamonitor forecasts suggest that just 10% of Pfizer's 2015 sales will be derived from new launches, suggesting that the company will continue to face competitive threats associated with a mature product offering.

SOURCE: Datamonitor