Two veteran Pfizer executives are leaving the company, including Chief Financial Officer Alan Levin, the firm announced May 20.

Global Research and Development President John LaMattina will retire at the end of the year after 30 years with the company.

LaMattina "made a critical contribution" to building the company's current pipeline in a broad range of therapeutic areas, especially in oncology, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Kindler said in a statement.

Recently, though, Pfizer's pipeline has suffered some major setbacks. In December, the company had to terminate development of what appeared to be a potential blockbuster cholesterol therapy, torcetrapib, after a data safety monitoring board found high mortality rates during a Phase III study (¹ Also see "Pfizer Terminates Torcetrapib Program" - Pink Sheet, 3 December, 2006.). Torcetrapib was widely viewed as the successor to the firm's best-selling drug, Lipitor (atorvastatin).

In addition, the launch of new products has not met expectations. Notably, Pfizer's inhaled insulin product, Exubera , was delayed several times, finally rolling out to primary care physicians in early 2007. The company did not break out first quarter 2007 sales for Exubera, but said they "remained disappointing."

In a same-day news release, LaMattina said, "I believe now is the time for leadership transition, so that we have the right leader in place to bring our innovative new medicines forward."

Levin, who served 20 years with Pfizer, will stay on as CFO until a successor is named.

The departure of LaMattina and Levin comes after an August organizational restructuring, dubbed "One Pfizer," which was one of Kindler's first big moves after taking the reins from former CEO Hank McKinnell (² Also see "Pfizer Restructuring Expands Shedlarz' Responsibilities As Katen Departs" - Pink Sheet, 15 August, 2006.).

During its most recent earnings call, Kindler highlighted the progress the firm has made in widespread restructuring and cost-saving initiatives initiated at the beginning of the year (³ Also see "Pfizer Looks To Make Its Big Pharma Engine More Agile By Cutting 10,000" - Pink Sheet, 22 January, 2007.).

Kindler also has made external sourcing a priority for the company. Pfizer has already embarked on a number of development deals so far this year, most recently on April 26 when it announced an agreement to co-develop and co-commercialize Bristol-Myers Squibb's anticoagulant apixaban (⁴ Also see "Bristol And Pfizer Team Up To Develop Anticoagulant Apixaban In $1 Billion Deal" - Pink Sheet, 26 April, 2007.).

- Pamela Taulbee (p.taulbee@elsevier.com)

Two Pfizer Veterans To Leave Firm

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