Drugs Log

Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, is the world’s biggest spender on research, the European Commission said Friday.

That means it outranks rival Johnson & Johnson, software giant Microsoft Corp. and auto companies Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG.

Pfizer spent 5.8 billion euros ($8.18 billion) last year to take the top spot from Ford on the EU’s research and development list, which uses figures from the world’s 50 largest companies to chart how much they invest in researching new products.

The four biggest spenders were all from the United States: Pfizer, Ford, J&J, and Microsoft, as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies sharply increased research spending to overtake technology hardware and equipment.

Major drugmakers are focusing more on research to develop new products that will help them compensate for losing their exclusive rights to sell many of their best-selling drugs.

U.S.-based Merck & Co. raised investment by 24 percent, AstraZeneca PLC by 15 percent, J&J by 13 percent and GlaxoSmithKline PLC by 10 percent, the EU said.

Germany’s DaimlerChrysler, which is changing its name to Daimler AG after the sale of most of its U.S. unit, was Europe’s highest scorer with 5.2 billion euros ($7.34 billion). Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline ranked No. 7, and German engineering giant Siemens AG was at No. 8.

The European Union’s research commissioner, Janez Potocnik, said more European companies needed to invest more of their own money in research.

Worldwide corporate investment in research grew 10 percent last year, riding the wave of global economic growth. Europe-based companies increased their spending at a slower rate, 7.4 percent.

The European Commission looked at spending by 1,000 companies based in Europe and another 1,000 based outside, saying overall these businesses invested 372 billion euros ($525 billion) in research in the last financial year, more than 85 percent of all research investment worldwide.

A few words about Pfizer

Pfizer Incorporated (NYSE: PFE) is a major research-based pharmaceutical company, which ranks number two in sales. The company is based in New York City. It produces the number-one selling drug Lipitor (atorvastatin, used to lower blood cholesterol); the oral antifungal medication Diflucan (fluconazole), the long-acting antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin), the well-known erectile dysfunction drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate), and the anti inflammatory Celebrex (celecoxib) (also known as Celebra in some countries outside USA and Canada, mainly in South America).

Pfizer’s shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004.

Pfizer boasts the industry’s largest pharmaceutical R&D organization.

Pfizer is named after German-American cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhardt who launched their chemicals business Charles Pfizer and Company from a building at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Barlett Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1849. There, they produced an antiparasitic called santonin. This was an immediate success, although it was the production of citric acid that really kick-started Pfizer’s growth in the 1880s. Pfizer continued to buy property to expand its lab and factory on the block bounded by Bartlett Street; Harrison Avenue; Gerry Street; and Flushing Avenue. That facility is still utilized for Backshop purposes. Pfizer established its original administrative headquarters at 81 Maiden Lane in Manhattan.

By 1910, sales totaled nearly $3 million, and Pfizer became established as an expert in fermentation technology. These skills were applied to the mass production of penicillin during World War II, in response to an appeal from the US government. The antibiotic was urgently needed to treat injured Allied soldiers, and it soon became known as “the miracle drug”. In fact, most of the penicillin that went ashore with the troops on D-Day was made by Pfizer.

By the 1950s, Pfizer was established in Iran, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

During the 1980s and 1990s Pfizer underwent a period of growth sustained by the discovery and marketing of multiple successful drugs (Zoloft,Lipitor,Norvasc, Zithromax, Aricept, Diflucan, Viagra).