Suicides pile pressure on Pfizer chief Kindler

Sales of Pfizer Inc's quit-smoking pill Chantix are plummeting in the United States after regulators tied the drug to suicides, a setback that may further depress shares that reached a 10-year low a month ago.

US prescriptions for Chantix have dropped by almost 33 percent since Jan 18, when the suicide link surfaced, according to research firm Verispan LLC in Yardley, Pennsylvania. Wary doctors now use the pill only when other treatments fail, said Norman Edleman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association in New York.

John Boris, a Bear Stearns & Co analyst in New York, forecasts revenue will fall 5 percent after earlier estimating US sales will rise 31 percent to almost $1 billion this year. As a result, Chantix is unlikely to help offset $12 billion in sales that Pfizer's Lipitor cholesterol medicine will start losing to generic rivals within two years. The misfire is the latest disappointment for Jeffrey Kindler, named chief executive officer two years ago to revive the world's largest drugmaker.

"It is another nail in their coffin," said Michael Obuchowski, an analyst with Altanes Investments LLC in New York.

The US Food and Drug Administration reported in February that at least 39 people committed suicide while on Chantix, and the agency last week strengthened warnings on the pill's packaging.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/23/2008 page16)