Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, plans to shutter six research centers, following its acquisition of Wyeth.

Pfizer will focus its research at five main sites and nine specialized units, down from 20 current locations, the New York- based drugmaker said today in a statement. Pfizer’s smaller centers will study specialized areas such as stem cells and monoclonal antibodies.

The move will reduce square footage by 35 percent at Pfizer, which completed its $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth last month. Pfizer spokesman Ray Kerins declined to comment on how many research jobs will be eliminated as part of the restructuring. Pfizer plans to cut 15 percent of the combined company’s overall workforce, or 19,000 positions.

“By focusing our R&D operations in these centers, we are building the world’s premier biopharmaceutical R&D enterprise,” said Mikael Dolsten, president of Pfizer’s biotherapeutics research and development, in the statement. “This new structure puts Pfizer in the best position to conduct cutting-edge research within and beyond our own laboratories and to deliver a portfolio of high-impact medicines to patients.”

Pfizer rose 47 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $17.43 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Research Spending Cuts

Pfizer may slash about $3 billion in research spending -- a 30 percent decrease from what it and Wyeth spent in 2008, said Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan in a research report last month. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler has been trimming jobs and narrowing the company’s research focus to help offset loses starting in 2011 when its top-selling Lipitor cholesterol pill faces generic competition.

Pfizer will combine its labs in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Wyeth’s operations there and merge its research in New London, Connecticut with its main research center in nearby Groton. It will keep open Wyeth’s vaccine center in Pearl River, New York and move some functions at the site to other locations. Pfizer’s La Jolla, California, and Sandwich, U.K. labs will remain major research centers, Pfizer said.

The sites being shutdown are Wyeth operations in Princeton, New Jersey; Plattsburgh, Chazy and Rouses Point, New York; Sanford and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and Wyeth’s U.K. centers in Slough, Taplow and Gosport.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Shannon Pettypiece at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 17:33 EST