Wyeth narrows focus of early-stage research

By Ransdell Pierson

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Wyeth WYE.N said on Tuesday it would narrow its early-stage research to a half-dozen therapeutic areas, but would continue to sell existing products and conduct research on drugs already in development.

The company, which has been beset by rejections and delays for important experimental drugs and by generic competition for its Protonix ulcer medicine, will focus on sophisticated biotech medicines and ailments treated by specialists.

"This is not a cost-reduction effort at all; the dollars spent and number of personnel won't change," said Wyeth spokesman Michael Lampe, adding that the payoff from the strategy shift might not be noticed for years.

"That's because the time from discovering a drug to marketing it is typically 12 to 15 years," Lampe said.

The changes in early-stage research are part of an initiative called Project Impact announced early this year. The plan is aimed at changing Wyeth's overall strategy and reducing costs as demand for now-generic Protonix falls.

Similar efforts have been undertaken by rivals including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N) and Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), which have cut back on research to a relatively few areas to increase their expertise in lucrative biotech medicines.

Wyeth said its scientists in the early so-called "discovery" stage of research would now focus on inventing drugs in the six broad medical areas of oncology, inflammation, vaccines, metabolic diseases, musculoskeletal problems andneuroscience, including Alzheimer's disease.

Previously, they had focused on 14 broad therapeutic areas.

The number of specific diseases for which drug-discovery efforts are made will likewise be halved, to 27 from about 55.

Lampe said Wyeth, for instance, would no longer attempt to discover female hormone replacement drugs, products that have been mainstays of the Madison, New Jersey-based drugmaker.

In the women's health arena, drug-discovery will instead focus on breast cancer and other tumors.

Wyeth said it would continue to sell existing products, such as its Premarin pill to treat post-menopausal symptoms, and would work on medicines already in its research pipeline.

Although company biologists and chemists will no longer attempt to discover drugs that treat osteoporosis, a disease now addressed by Premarin, Lampe said they would try to invent drugs that help repair bone fractures.

Wyeth, whose research budget is about $3.1 billion a year, did not identify the portion spent on early-stage research.

Another company spokesman declined to comment when asked whether Wyeth might soon also change how it conducted human clinical trials, a far-costlier stage of research that some drugmakers are farming out to contract research organizations.

Wyeth is already a leader in biotech drugs, which are made in living cells, with its $3 billion-a-year Enbrel treatment for arthritis. And its Prevnar, used as a protection from infection with childhood diseases, is also one of the world's best-selling vaccines. (Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Ted Kerr)