Wyeth | Strategy and Financial Highlights Information from ICIS

Edited from: “Message to stockholders”, annual report 2008, “Pfizer agrees to $68bn acquisition of US pharma rival Wyeth”, ICIS news, and company website

Wyeth states that its strategy is focussed on enabling the company’s research and development organisation to apply advanced research technologies to address unmet medical needs in areas like Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. The company says that by investing in biotechnology and vaccines earlier than many of its peers, it is able to deliver to patients unprecedented medical breakthroughs such as Enbrel for rheumatoid arthritis and the pneumonia vaccine Prevnar.

“As a result of these early strategic moves, we also became one of the most diversified biopharmaceutical companies in the world, a company that offers a continuum of advanced health care options for preventing and treating disease. This strategy established a strong foundation for Wyeth even while overcoming unanticipated generic product challenges”, says chairman, president and chief executive officer, Bernard Poussot.

Another important area of its strategy includes the merger of Wyeth with Pfizer. On 26 January 2009, Wyeth’s board of directors accepted Pfizer’s offer to acquire Wyeth in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $68bn. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.

“Our ability to execute successfully on our long-term vision garnered significant attention across our industry. As a result, Pfizer, the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company, determined that by combining with Wyeth, it could seize an opportunity to add Wyeth’s diversified and innovative platforms, product portfolios, and talented and dedicated people to its own core strengths”, says Poussot.

Wyeth will continue with a robust pipeline, where it claims to have built a new product pipeline across a wide range of therapeutic areas that addresses unmet medical needs. The company's overall goal is to deliver to patients and doctors two new medicines each year.

It has gained approval for three new prescription drugs, Pristiq, for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD); Relistor, for opioid-induced constipation; and Xyntha, for hemophilia A. In addition, its pipeline for the future includes more than 60 R&D projects at various stages of development, including 10 that Wyeth claims are aimed at changing the course of Alzheimer’s disease.

Wyeth will also continue to focus on its diversified portfolio. Its consumer health care business provides global brands such as the painkiller Advil and the multivitamin Centrum, and its animal health business offers biological innovations, including vaccines against West Nile virus, H5N3 avian flu virus and bluetongue disease.

“Indeed, our business model emphasises diversity and balance – by product line, by business, by technological platform and by geography. For the first time in our history, more than half of Wyeth’s 2008 revenue was generated by international operations, and nearly 60% of revenue was derived from non-traditional pharmaceutical businesses”, says Poussot.

In addition, Wyeth has introduced a plan to focus additional resources and management support on geographies identified as “accelerated growth markets”, recognising the potential of China, Russia and the Middle East as markets for its products.

Looking ahead at the remainder of 2009, the company is reaffirming the outlook for its 2009 full year guidance for diluted earnings per share of $3.33 to $3.53, excluding certain significant items.

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Wyeth Company Structure

Wyeth is a research-based, global pharmaceutical company that has established itself in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals (prescription drugs and over-the-counter (OTC) medications), vaccines and biotechnology. Wyeth was previously known as American Home Products.
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