Pfizer bid highlights hazards of new drug development

The Wall Street Journal analyzes the reasons behind Pfizer's ambitious $68 billion bid for Wyeth, and finds a pipeline of biologics and new vaccines.

"A decade ago Wyeth was in disarray after a series of business blunders and the fen-phen diet drug bomb, but it has since reinvented itself as an industry leader in vaccines and biologics," reports the Journal. "Pfizer figures this slate of investigational drugs can help refill its pipeline, especially the promising Prevnar-13, an advanced vaccine for pneumococcal meningitis."

But Pfizer and other pharma companies also have to face some uncomfortable realities. The FDA is proving increasingly difficult to deal with on new approvals in light of the harsh criticism the agency has faced from ascendant Democrats on the Hill. And new biologics are fiercely expensive to push through to approval, in part due to their complexity. All developers have to balance the cost of development with the likelihood of advancing new markets, and the math has rarely been this hard.

- read the analysis from the Wall Street Journal

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