PFIZER

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. has made tentative deals with patients who took its Celebrex and Bextra pain killer drugs and then sued the company for damages, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal today.

Pfizer Inc. world's largest drug maker reported on Thursday its profit in the first quarter slumped 18 percent as generic competition slashed sales of drugs.The company's revenue fell to ...

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, reported on Thursday that its profit in the first quarter slumped 18 percent as generic competition slashed sales of drugs.Its net income declined ...

Pfizer Inc. will pay Avant Immunotherapeutics's Celldex Therapeutics Inc. unit to acquire the exclusive global license of a brain cancer vaccine treatment which is currently in Phase 2 development, the companies announced late Wednesday.

Johnson & Johnson, the world's biggest health-products maker, said its profit grew 40 percent in the first quarter, beating expectations as it benefited from its diversity of consumer products and a weak dollar.

Pfizer Inc. said on Wednesday clinical studies of its insulin drug Exubera found increased cases of lung cancer, leading developer Nektar to abandon the troubled product.

Switzerland's Novartis AG will slash 2.5 percent of its global workforce, aiming for annual savings of $1.6 billion in 2010, becoming the latest major drugmaker to undertake a deep restructuring. Novartis said on Thursday it would take a charge of $450 million in the fourth quarter for the measures, which aim to combat price pressures on drugs, higher research costs, tighter regulations and more generic competition.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, as part of an expected major restructuring, on Wednesday said by 2010 it would cut its work force 10 percent and slash the number of its manufacturing plants by more than half, to generate an additional $1.5 billion in savings. The company is also planning to sell its medical imaging business and reviewing strategic alternatives for its wound healing unit. Sales would bring the company cash to boost its core pharmaceuticals business.

Major drug makers AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc said on Friday they were upbeat about their prospects in the Japanese market, citing a sea change in the regulatory environment and mild generic competition.

A younger generation of chief executives in many boardrooms is set to spur the strategic overhaul.

A lack of significant new drugs and products, declining sales of lucrative flagship franchises and fierce competition have set off a wave of restructuring moves among the biggest names in health care. In many cases, restructuring is a euphemism for eliminating thousands of jobs, and it remains to be seen whether these moves are quick fixes to prop up dwindling profits, or a recognition of the industry's harsh new reality.

Pfizer Inc, Novartis AG and Wyeth all saw quarterly earnings hit by charges on Thursday, while Eli Lilly and Co exceeded Wall Street expectations as third-quarter sales of several of its drugs outpaced analysts' estimates. Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, took a $2.8 billion charge to cut its ties to the inhaled insulin drug Exubera, a sensational failure of a product once touted as a can't-miss blockbuster.

Pfizer Inc said on Thursday third-quarter earnings fell sharply due to a $2.8 billion charge to end its involvement with the poorly selling inhaled insulin drug Exubera.

Pfizer Inc on Thursday named Martin Mackay, one of its senior research executives, as its new research chief, and selected a Merck & Co Inc research officer to head clinical development of its medicines.

A court case brought by Nigeria against Pfizer resumes on Wednesday with the U.S. drug maker saying it answered a call for help to save the lives of African children during a meningitis epidemic.

A court case brought by Nigeria against Pfizer resumes on Wednesday with the U.S. drug maker saying it answered a call for help to save the lives of African children during a meningitis epidemic.

Pfizer Inc, the world's largest drug maker, said on Friday it is in talks with investors about spinning off its Japanese research and development laboratory, albeit as a much smaller organization.

Eli Lilly & Co, the U.S. maker of antidepressant Prozac and erectile dysfunction drug Cialis, said its China sales were rising about 26 percent a year, on track to become the company's tenth biggest global market by 2010.

German drug maker Merck KGaA's Merck Serono unit won European Commission approval to market a new formulation of its Rebif drug to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis, the company said on Thursday.

Pfizer’s effort to extend the patent for its best-selling cholesterol-reducing drug Lipitor an additional 15 months into 2011 has been dealt preliminary setback.

A bid by Pfizer Inc. to win reissuance of a U.S. patent protecting its blockbuster Lipitor cholesterol medicine has been rejected on a preliminary basis, the company said on Friday.