Pfizer strategy for Lipitor fails to soothe

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday it aims to expand in emerging markets and speed the pace of launching new drugs to offset looming generic competition for its $12 billion-a-year Lipitor cholesterol fighter.

The world's largest drugmaker, whose shares fell more than 1 percent, also said during a meeting with analysts it will establish a new unit for cancer drugs and will significantly boost the number of drugs in late-stage trials by late next year.

But industry analysts said Wednesday's review by top company executives of their strategy and pipeline of experimental medicines did little to allay concerns about flat Pfizer revenue and the drugmaker's failure to launch many big selling products over the past five years.

"It's more of the same," said Damien Conover, an analyst with Morningstar. "We're not seeing a dramatic shift that I think Pfizer needs to take."

Morgan Stanley analyst Jami Rubin called Pfizer's pipeline "interesting," but said most of the products described in the 5-hour New York meeting were only in early stages of testing.

"There's no data and their track record does not inspire a lot of confidence, so it's more of a wait and see kind of story," Rubin said.

Pfizer said its products are now sold in 110 cities in China, but they will eventually reach more than 650 of its cities. Moreover, the company plans to garner $1 billion in annual sales by 2012 from South Korea, and aims to also boost its sales in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

But overseas markets are far less lucrative than the United States, which has no strict government price controls and allows drugmakers to widely advertise their products on television and other media.