Pfizer to Can 800 Researchers

Pfizer will eliminate the jobs of up to 800 researchers in 2009, starting today, the Wall Street Journal reports. The pharmaceutical giant is attempting to cut costs ahead of a $30 billion reduction in revenue expected in 2011 when its patent on the popular cholesterol drug Lipitor expires. But the cuts signal a larger rethinking of pharmaceutical R&D.

While discovering new medications is still the company’s chief priority, large firms such as Pfizer can buy drugs developed by smaller companies—or the companies themselves. "R&D is still the heart and soul of a pharmaceutical company, but it doesn't always have to express itself as a company's own R&D, and that's what I'm seeing more and more," said a Pfizer lab director who was let go last year.
(More Pfizer stories.)