Can Anything Else Go Wrong at Pfizer?
First, there was the torcetrapib catastrophe and now the Exubera debacle. Pfizer announced late yesterday that it would stop selling Exubera, the first approved inhaled insulin product, less than two years after its approval. Despite heavy promotion by Pfizer, Exubera sales were tiny, with prescriptions amounting to less than 1% of the multi-billion dollar insulin market. Once heralded as a potential blockbuster drug by industry analysts, Exubera was plagued with questions about its safety, efficacy, convenience and cost. The bottom line is that it worked no better than injected insulin and, results from clinical trials showed that Exubera could decrease patients’ breathing ability. This coupled with the appearance of the delivery device, which resembled a bong (not that there is anything wrong with that), contributed to the inability of Exubera to gain acceptance among patients and physicians.
Exubera was originally developed by Nektar, a small publicly traded California-based biotechnology company that specializes in inhalation technology and protein delivery systems that include PEGylation. Pfizer bought the marketing rights from Nektar and assumed responsibility for clinical development of Exubera.
Nobody knows how much Pfizer spent on developing and promoting Exubera, but the company took a $2.8 million charge yesterday to cover costs associated with the drug–making it one of the most expensive failures in the history of the pharmaceutical industry.
Despite its status as the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, things are not going well for Pfizer. The company has already consolidated operations and laid off thousands of workers a result of the torcetrapib mess. Further, the ripple effect that the Exubera debacle may have on Nektar and other companies like Eli Lilly that are developing similar inhalable insulin products is unknown at present.
I do not think that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries can withstand much more bad news. Pfizer’s ongoing bad news, coupled with the GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia mess and Amgen’s epoetin woes suggest that it may be a good time to load up your portfolio with already “cheap” pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks—there is only one way for these stocks to go—and that is up!
Until next time….
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!
The lack of common sense in a world of highly intelligent people is what Pfizer is experiencing with the failed Exhubera. This is a common problem among many companies in today's world.
It is almost unbelievable that this delivery system was not shelved upon inspection of the prototype. If you are in marketing or design do yourself a favor, run your idea by a few regular people prior to presenting it. It might save you a few thousand $ in Pfizer's case a few billion. I had discussion with my Dr. prior to the late launch of this inhaler, he knew at that point that it was doomed. It is almost like when you tell a joke, and nobody gets it. You then expound on the joke trying to explain that it is funny, by then it's too late. I would roll a few dozen heads over this monumental goof.
Signed,
A discouraged stockholder
The Pfizer board must be bewildered at the continuing massive write-offs, even as they near the falling off the cliff from the loss of patent protection on Lipitor, and it 10+ billion in annual sales.
And to think, they did get the very best guy in the take-out chicken industry to be the CEO.
What could have gone wrong??