All eyes will be keenly trained on the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, later this week when the firm is expected to unveil a dramatic round of cost-cutting measures expected to help it achieve its goal of saving some $2 billion dollars.
According to a Financial Times report, Pfizer, which has an analysts meeting scheduled for tomorrow, could see profits tempered over the coming three years because of a raft of looming patent expiries on drugs worth some $14 billion in sales. There have already been rumblings over the company’s plan to save money whilst ploughing funds into other areas of the business [[11/02/05c]], and the FT suggests that the company is considering slashing as much as 30% of its global salesforce, as well as money saving initiatives in other areas of the business, including administration and research and development.
Tomorrow’s meeting is also expected to see the drug giant unveil its financial guidance for the coming year [[20/01/05a]].
– Meanwhile, researchers say that several men have suffered vision loss after taking Pfizer’s erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra (sildenafil). According to research published in the latest edition of the Journal of Beuro-Ophthalmology, seven patients aged between 50 and 69 years had typical features of a condition known as nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, which can lead to vision loss, within 36 hours of taking the drug. Vision loss has been identified in six patients, and seven similar cases have also been identified.
