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Sebelius on Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Discussing whether a new $487M investment from the government will help speed up the production of the most important vaccines, with Kathy Sebelius, Health & Human Services secretary and CNBC's Mike Huckman.

The New Formula for Faster Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Novartis is opening on Tuesday the country's first plant to produce flu vaccines using cell cultures. These vaccines are faster, better and cheaper to make than egg-based methods, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Novartis Opens 1st US Plant for Flu Vaccine

24 Nov 2009

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 16 Nov 2009
Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. CNBC's Mike Huckman has the details.

Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic, shares his reaction with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure

16 Nov 2009

A new study is putting Merck's cholesterol drugs under pressure today, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman, with Ken Frazier, Merck Global Human Health president.

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Pharma's Market

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Feb.02

8:35 AM ET

Monday, 2 Feb 2009

Pfizer's Friday Night Lights Out Plus - New Interview With Kindler

Posted By:Mike Huckman

Sectors:Insurance | Health Care Equipment and Services | Health Care | Pharmaceuticals

Companies:Genentech, Inc. | Wyeth | Pfizer Inc

CNBC.com
So, what do you do at the end of a week where your company's stock was the worst performer in the Dow and you've got some bad news that could make the shares go down even more?

You employ one of the oldest PR tricks in the book and slip the press release under the door right before everyone turns out the lights to go home for the weekend.

I'm talking about the announcement Pfizer [PFE Loading... () ] made just around 5 p.m. ET last Friday that it's scuttling its late-stage developmental drug for pancreatic cancer because it didn't help patients live longer.

PFE started the week early Monday morning confirming it's buying Wyeth [WYE Loading... () ] . From then until the closing bell Friday PFE shares fell 16-and-a-half percent making it the laggard of the Dow for the week.

On the one hand, you could argue that the pancreatic cancer drug news is a timely case in point for why a company like Pfizer needs to buy a company like Wyeth. On the other hand, you could argue that the bad news for Pfizer just keeps on coming.

A week ago today Pfizer announced it would acquire Wyeth for $68BIf the drug had worked, it wasn't going to be a blockbuster. But PFE needs every little thing it can get, especially after investing so much time and money on a product in the third and typically final phase of development before seeking FDA approval.

Coincidentally, I blogged a couple of weeks ago about pancreatic cancer drugs in light of the Steve Jobs news. Both Pfizer and Genentech [DNA Loading... () ] have now suffered setbacks in making progress for this tough-to-treat form of cancer.

While this is not the kind of news PFE and its investors needed or wanted after a week like last week, this development is, no doubt, an even greater disappointment to the pancreatic cancer community.