In the wake of the new business environment, Pfizer India has restructured its marketing and sales network to align its business in tune with the parent company and will soon launch three to four products from the Pfizer stable in India.

Prime among them will be the launch of Caduet, a combo of drugs amlodipine (Norvasc, Lotrel) and atorvastatin (Lipitor), two widely prescribed cardiovascular medications. The drug, first launched by Pfizer in January 2004, is the first medicine to treat two different conditions, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and is indicated for the treatment of hypertension, chronic stable angina and vasospastic angina (Prinzmetal’s or variant angina). The company has applied to the DCGI for marketing approval and clinical trials are going on. The product is likely to reach the market within a few months.

Pfizer has already launched another drug ‘Vfend’ (voriconazole), indicated for systemic fungal infections, mainly promoted to treat lethal infections among chronic patients with cancer, renal transplant etc. The company has also identified more products from the Pfizer basket in the portfolio of CVD, neuropathy, oncology, ophthalmology etc. The company has restructured its various divisions into eight therapeutic segments to align its business with the parent company and has restructured its field force of 12,000 to 14,000 in these eight divisions, K G Ananthakrishnan, senior director, Pfizer Ltd told Pharmabiz.

He said that Pfizer was conducting 34 clinical trials in India, including 24 trials related to Pfizer India products.

Keval Handa, managing director, Pfizer said, “The company is looking at growth, both organically and inorganically. Pfizer India is open to acquisitions, both brands and products in various therapeutic segments. At present Pfizer is waiting for India’s product patent regime to evolve so that it benefits the company to confidently launch some of the patented products from Pfizer’s product basket.”