domingo, abril 10, 2005
A Pfizer deveria comprar a Merck?
In the face of a big disappointment, should Pfizer buy its long-time rival Merck?
Two days after the world's largest drug firm promised growth for its arthritis drugs Celebrex and Bextra, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that Celebrex should get a serious warning and that Bextra should be pulled from the market entirely. Both drugs have been dogged by an apparent link to heart attacks, but the ruling still came as a surprise to many physicians and drug industry watchers (see: "Doctors Back Bextra Ban").
That leaves Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ), which just made rosy earnings projections for 2006 onward based on cost cuts and sales growth, in a tough position. One idea, advanced by Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan in a research note before the Bextra news broke, would be a hostile takeover of Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ).
Two days after the world's largest drug firm promised growth for its arthritis drugs Celebrex and Bextra, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that Celebrex should get a serious warning and that Bextra should be pulled from the market entirely. Both drugs have been dogged by an apparent link to heart attacks, but the ruling still came as a surprise to many physicians and drug industry watchers (see: "Doctors Back Bextra Ban").
That leaves Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ), which just made rosy earnings projections for 2006 onward based on cost cuts and sales growth, in a tough position. One idea, advanced by Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan in a research note before the Bextra news broke, would be a hostile takeover of Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ).
