New Pfizer CEO understands the need for speed
Oct/21/2007 10:20 Filed in: Pharma
Business
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Exubera is an expensive to manufacture. It requires facilities all over the world. The insulin is made in Germany, shipped to California to be sprayed and turned into a powder, packaged into foil wrappers in Indiana and then inserted into a device made in Arizona. With the rising costs of fuel it's easy to see how this product could have easily cost a lot more to produce. There were of course other issues that contributes to the products demise such as physician and patient reluctance to recommend and use the inhaled insulin but most pharma companies would either continue to market the drug, taking in what little sales it can, or sell the product to someone else willing to market the product and overcome obstacles.
Still it looks like Mr Kindler has lit the light at Pfizer. As the Wall Street Journal reported:
Listen to our customers?! KUDOS Mr Kindler and how novel for the pharmaceutical industry ! At last someone OUTSIDE the industry is bringing a fresh a approach to an industry that has been in dire need of fresh air for quite a while. How many other CEO's would have had the courage to what he did? Probably not many. Yes the people on Wall Street who believe that instant gratification takes too long will talk about the negatives but Mr KIndler may have taken the first step to acknowledging that the old way to do business is not working in an era when customers have more power than every before.
Exubera is an expensive to manufacture. It requires facilities all over the world. The insulin is made in Germany, shipped to California to be sprayed and turned into a powder, packaged into foil wrappers in Indiana and then inserted into a device made in Arizona. With the rising costs of fuel it's easy to see how this product could have easily cost a lot more to produce. There were of course other issues that contributes to the products demise such as physician and patient reluctance to recommend and use the inhaled insulin but most pharma companies would either continue to market the drug, taking in what little sales it can, or sell the product to someone else willing to market the product and overcome obstacles.
Still it looks like Mr Kindler has lit the light at Pfizer. As the Wall Street Journal reported:
Mr. Kindler aims to bring something new to the drug industry: A fast-food-like focus on what the market wants. At a meeting with investors in January, he pledged to create new commercial units to get closer to customers. And on Thursday, he explained his decision to pull Exubera as a sign of Pfizer's new commitment to "listen to our customers."
Listen to our customers?! KUDOS Mr Kindler and how novel for the pharmaceutical industry ! At last someone OUTSIDE the industry is bringing a fresh a approach to an industry that has been in dire need of fresh air for quite a while. How many other CEO's would have had the courage to what he did? Probably not many. Yes the people on Wall Street who believe that instant gratification takes too long will talk about the negatives but Mr KIndler may have taken the first step to acknowledging that the old way to do business is not working in an era when customers have more power than every before.
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