It doesn’t appear Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has any blockbusters up its sleeve, but the company has successfully added some big-selling medications that could help ease the pain when cheaper generic copies start eating away at the company’s multi-billion dollar seller Lipitor cholesterol drug this November.
The world’s largest drug company is counting on the arthritis pill tofacitinib to join the fold of key offerings. If so, it will link up with Pfizer’s other recent acquisitions in pain and inflammation to ease the sting of losing patent protection for Lipitor. The company’s arthritis drug Enbrel, which it gained in the purchase of Wyeth in 2009, was Pfizer’s second-best seller last year with revenue of more than $3 billion. Last year’s purchase of King Pharmaceuticals brought Pfizer several additional painkillers.
At least one analyst thinks Pfizer has hit a home run with tofacitinib. Catherine Arnold told Bloomberg that the new drug is a “game-changer,” and may bring in more than $2.6 billion a year. She emphasized the estimate could be conservative given the current market for rheumatoid arthritis is $22 billion. The Pfizer treatment offers a dosing advantage because it’s given orally instead of injected like the other drugs on the market.
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