Pfizer lowers growth expectations

Pfizer has released its forecast for 2006 with net income set to be around $11.5 billion, a return to 2004 levels, after falls in 2005.

The company also announced that this year there would be six new medicines launched and five new medicines would be filed for approval over the coming two years.

Pfizer chairman and chief executive Hank McKinnell said: “This is a time of transformation for Pfizer and our industry.

“We are responding directly to the realities of our operating environment as we build value today while aggressively investing in the future. We have many significant opportunities ahead of us.”

He added: “We are rapidly adapting our business to effectively balance the demands of our customers, the needs of patients, and the interests of shareholders. Over the next three years, a new generation Pfizer will emerge, and our company will have the operating and financial strength to sustain value.”

The firm also stated that revenue growth is expected to resume in 2007, as contributions from new medicines offset the declining impact of loss of sales to generic drug makers.

It was also announced that any decision to sell off the firm’s consumer health division would be made in the third quarter of this year.

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