Pfizer After Lipitor Slims Down to Push Mini-Blockbusters

Pfizer Inc.’s long dependence on the cholesterol pill Lipitor to produce almost one-fifth of the company’s revenue begins eroding today when the drug’s patent protection ends in the U.S.

The next step will be rebuilding the world’s biggest drugmaker into a smaller, faster-moving company that focuses on development of biologic drugs and specialty medicines while expanding sales of existing products, such as Lipitor and the erection drug Viagra, in emerging countries such as China, executives said in interviews.