Pfizer Narrows Its Focus

Pfizer’s research campus in Sandwich, England, is the birthplace of Viagra, the $2 billion-a-year erectile dysfunction pill that’s among the most famous and widely used drugs in the world. Nonetheless, the 213-acre site, once Pfizer’s biggest European lab, is for sale, and more than 2,000 of the employees who worked there were fired in 2011. Chief Executive Officer Ian Read says he can’t be sentimental. The Sandwich closure, announced in February 2011, two months after he became CEO, is part of his strategy to narrow Pfizer’s focus to just five therapeutic areas. “It was a very difficult decision for us,” says Read. But Sandwich’s scientists did research on allergies and respiratory diseases, “areas where we were less productive and less likely to win in the marketplace.”