UPDATE 1-Pfizer trims drug pipeline after Wyeth merger

* Pfizer cuts 100 drug-development projects

* Pulls Lyrica application as add-on anxiety drug

* Aims to sell, outlicense many discontinued assets

By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Wednesday it has cut more than 15 percent of its combined drug development programs following the recent merger with Wyeth and will no longer seek U.S. approval to sell pain drug Lyrica as an add-on treatment for anxiety.

Lyrica, which had third-quarter sales of $708 million, is currently approved to treat epileptic seizures, fribromyalgia and nerve pain. General anxiety disorder could have opened another revenue stream for the drug, which already has annual sales of nearly $3 billion.

Company officials said Pfizer has withdrawn a U.S. marketing application for the anxiety indication, but the company is still weighing the drug's potential for the condition.

"It's a smaller thing in the bigger picture," Mikael Dolsten, one of Pfizer's two top research chiefs, said in a telephone interview.

After reviewing the combined drug development portfolios of Pfizer and Wyeth, the company decided to trim 600 existing projects to about 500, with some 70 percent of those remaining focused on six key therapeutic areas -- oncology, pain, inflammation, Alzheimer's disease, psychoses and diabetes.

"We wanted to make sure the key priorities for us will be dominant in the new portfolio," said Dolsten, who came to Pfizer from Wyeth.

Pfizer has also boosted its vaccines and biotechnology projects through its acquisition of Wyeth, with six vaccines and 27 biotech drugs now in development, up from one vaccine and 16 biologics it had in the pipeline a year ago.

One of the primary reasons for the $67 billion purchase of Wyeth was to gain access to its promising lineup of vaccines and biotechnology medicines at a time when Pfizer is facing the late 2011 loss of patent protection on its $12 billion-a-year cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's biggest-selling medicine.

After completing the Wyeth acquisition in October, Pfizer moved quickly to reduce the combined company's number of research and development sites and to meld operations, with the prioritizing and culling of its development pipeline the latest move.

Pfizer has said it was determined not to repeat past mistakes of previous giant acquisitions, when a lengthy integration process hampered operations and research.

"We moved it rapidly with good decisions," Martin Mackay, Pfizer's other research chief, said of the Wyeth consolidation.

"The programs we culled in this first piece, either there was overlap between the portfolios or we had a piece of scientific information" that led to discontinuations.

"We will continue to prioritize the portfolio," Mackay added.

Most of the projects pared from the pipeline come from drugs in the early, or Phase I, stage of development. The vast majority of the industry's drugs in Phase I testing never make it onto the market.

Three drugs undergoing mid-stage, or Phase II, clinical trials were listed as discontinued -- one for diabetes, one for pain and one for thrombosis, or blood clots.

Mackay said the company could seek to sell or outlicense some of the discontinued assets.

"We will certainly aim to derive as much value as possible, and we are in discussions with a number of potential partners," he said. (Editing by Steve Orlofsky)