Pfizer

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration's general counsel interceded in lawsuits on behalf of drugmakers including Pfizer Inc. in cases alleging the companies' products harmed patients, a move Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey said yesterday is a "radical new direction" for the agency. Hinchey, a New York Democrat on the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the FDA, said the agency's general counsel, Daniel E. Troy, has filed briefs aiding the cases of Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline PLC and other manufacturers.

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Pfizer Inc., the world's largest pharmaceutical company, will soon offer its medicines at discounts to the country's uninsured. Pfizer officials said in announcing the move yesterday that the program would give people without drug coverage the same access to prices leveraged by health maintenance organizations, major corporations and other entities with substantial buying power. The program, to begin next month, will be available to the uninsured population regardless of age or income, although people who make more money will receive less-extensive discounts.

Pfizer Inc. is one of my health care holdings and I'm thinking of buying more. What's the outlook for the company? - J.C., via the Internet Because "home run" drugs are the truest measure of success, this company ranks as the New York Yankees of the pharmaceutical industry. Although its Viagra franchise is being challenged by the widely advertised new Cialis and Levitra drugs for erectile dysfunction, the world's largest pharmaceutical company sells many other popular products. Its Lipitor cholesterol medicine, acquired in the $116 billion hostile takeover of Warner-Lambert completed in 2000, is the top-selling drug in the United States and the world, with $9 billion in annual sales.

NEW YORK -Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug maker, is betting its $1.3 billion purchase of money-losing Esperion Therapeutics Inc. will help it overcome patent expirations and spur future sales. Pfizer, which already had an option to help develop an Esperion medicine, agreed yesterday to pay Esperion investors $35 a share in cash for the company. Study results suggesting the experimental drug can melt artery-clogging fat deposits - a first in heart treatment - spurred New York-based Pfizer to make an offer, said John LaMattina, Pfizer's chief scientist.

Charged with capturing the essence of a continent in a single day, nearly 100 photojournalists journeyed to Africa last winter. The group spread out and began shooting from the land's 53 countries on Feb. 28. Over the course of that day and night, they ventured to sparsely populated countryside, colorful markets, lush jungles and bustling cities, all the while framing the varied landscapes and cultural practices in their lenses. They spent time in schools, stores and cafes, grabbing candid images that showed how people worked and played.

In a $15 million deal with the world's largest drug company, Baltimore-based Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. said yesterday that it agreed to license a class of drugs used to treat nerve-degeneration disorders, such as Lou Gehrig's disease, to Pfizer Inc. Pfizer will pay for research and development of the drugs as well as their manufacturing and commercialization. It will pay $5 million on signing the licensing agreement and an additional $10 million by March 31, or earlier, according to the deal.

NEW YORK -Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, won Federal Trade Commission approval yesterday for its $57 billion purchase of Pharmacia Corp., clearing the final regulatory obstacle to completing the takeover this week. Last month, both companies agreed to sell some products to win U.S. antitrust approval, and in February reached a similar accord to obtain European Commission clearance. The acquisition will give Pfizer all of the revenue for Celebrex and Bextra, top-selling painkillers that are jointly marketed by the two companies.

NEW YORK -Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug maker, said yesterday that it expects to complete its $53 billion purchase of Pharmacia Corp. next month after agreeing with U.S. antitrust regulators to sell some products. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff will forward the proposal to the full commission for approval, Pfizer said. Pfizer spokesman Andy McCormick declined to identify the products to be sold, though the company said the divestments won't have a material effect on its business.

BEAUMONT, Texas - Pfizer Inc., the world's No. 1 drug maker, agreed to pay $49 million to settle a suit alleging that a company it acquired two years ago overcharged the federal and state governments for Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug. The settlement was more than double the $21 million the Medicaid program overpaid for the drug in 1999, according to lawyers for plaintiff John David Foster, a former account manager for Pfizer's Parke-Davis unit. Foster raised questions about the charges for Lipitor that led to the whistle-blower suit in 2000.

New York - Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, plans to buy back as much as $10 billion of stock during the next 24 months, its largest repurchase ever, and will seek buyers for its Adams candy and Schick shaving units. Pfizer, best known for the Viagra impotence drug, is considering unloading two businesses picked up in its June 2000 purchase of Warner-Lambert Co. Adams, maker of such brands as Chiclets, Certs and Halls, had sales of $1.96 billion and Schick $620 million last year, the company said in a statement.