Pfizer Inc announced its global research and development network, marking an important step in implementing a new R&D model as part of the integration of Pfizer and Wyeth. This global network brings together scientific strengths from both companies, continues efforts to increase research productivity, focuses disease-area research in single locations and more efficiently uses the company’s real estate.

Pfizer will have five main research sites that will serve as central hubs for research activities in BioTherapeutics, PharmaTherapeutics and Vaccines. These sites are: Cambridge, Massachusetts; Groton, Connecticut; Pearl River, New York; La Jolla, California; and Sandwich, United Kingdom. These research-oriented laboratories will be supplemented by specialized research capabilities, such as monoclonal antibody discovery in San Francisco, regenerative medicine work in Cambridge and research and development activities in Shanghai, China.

“By focusing our R&D operations in these centers, we are building the world’s premier biopharmaceutical R&D enterprise,” said Mikael Dolsten, president of BioTherapeutics Research & Development. “This new structure puts Pfizer in the best position to conduct cutting-edge research within and beyond our own laboratories and to deliver a portfolio of high-impact medicines to patients.”

As part of the consolidation of research sites, Pfizer will significantly reduce R&D activities at some of its sites. The company will move a number of functions from Collegeville, Pennsylvania; Pearl River, New York; and St Louis to other locations and will discontinue R&D operations in Princeton, New Jerset; Chazy, Rouses Point and Plattsburgh, New York; Sanford and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and Gosport, Slough/Taplow, United Kingdom. In addition, Pfizer will consolidate R&D functions from its New London, Connecticut, site to its nearby research facility in Groton, Conn.

As a result of these changes, Pfizer will reduce its global R&D square footage by 35 per cent. R&D activities will now be conducted at five main sites and nine specialized units around the world as compared with 20 R&D sites upon closing the acquisition of Wyeth on October 16, 2009.

“In less than a month, we have made complex business decisions needed to combine these two R&D organizations thoughtfully yet quickly,” said Martin Mackay, president, PharmaTherapeutics Research & Development. “Moving forward on our aggressive timeline, we are analyzing the combined portfolio and prioritizing research projects that will address unmet medical need and bring Pfizer’s scientific and competitive advantage to the benefit of patients.”

While these changes are expected to bolster productivity and reduce costs, they will result in staff reductions. Dr Mackay and Dr Dolsten said Pfizer is committed to supporting affected colleagues, their families, and the affected communities through this transition.

Pfizer’s new R&D organization includes a BioTherapeutics division focused on large-molecule and vaccine research and a PharmaTherapeutics division focused on small molecule discovery and drug delivery technologies. The two divisions will work together in high-priority disease areas – neuroscience, pain, inflammation, oncology, metabolic disorders, vaccines and infectious diseases. Disease-specific research units and biotechnology units work across both divisions to provide the disease area and technology expertise needed to discover and deliver high-impact medicines for patients.