If spending $17 billion is any indication, it’s safe to say that Pfizer expects injectables and biosimilars to be strong growth areas.
That was the price tag for injectables specialist Hospira, which it purchased last month. While bolstering its own sterile injectable capabilities, the deal more importantly gives Pfizer access to the hot growth area of biosimilars—copycat versions of biological drugs. The drug giant is now poised to become the market leader in both the biosimilars and generics markets.

Pfizer said in a statement that its acquisition of Hospira will create “a leading global sterile injectables business.” The company estimates that the global market values for generic sterile injectables and biosimilars, will be $70 billion and $20 billion, respectively, in 2020.

Hospira’s generic sterile injectables product line is focused on acute care and oncology injectables and will complement Pfizer’s branded sterile injectables, which include anti-infectives, anti-inflammatories and cytotoxics.

With headquarters in Illinois, Hospira’s injectable generic pharmaceuticals make up about 75% of total company revenue and its portfolio includes more than 200 generic drugs. About 20% of revenue comes from foreign sales.

In terms of biosimilars, Hospira said during the JPMorgan HealthCare Conference that it has biosimilars being developed for 11 expensive biologic drugs, targeting an opportunity of $40 billion.

The good news for Pfizer is that the FDA is poised to allow the sale of biosimilars after many years of debate. On January 7, an FDA advisory panel decided unanimously that a drug made by Sandoz, the generics arm of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, should be accepted as a replacement for Amgen’s cancer treatment drug Neupogen.

According to Pfizer, roughly $100 billion worth of biologic medicines are slated to lose patent protection in the next five years.

Pfizer says it plans to employ its commercial capabilities, global scale, and scientific and development capabilities to significantly expand Hospira’s portfolio of marketed biosimilars, including Retacrit to treat anemia associated with chemotherapy, and Nivestim, a biosimilar version of filgrastim (GCSF), to treat neutropenia. In addition, Hospira’s large portfolio of generics, which are currently distributed primarily in the U.S., could be shipped more broadly to Europe and other key emerging markets.

After the deal was announced, experts and analysts began sounding off that the deal is part of a broader strategic objective that will see Pfizer’s generic products unit, Global Established Products (GEP), eventually spun off. So is Pfizer in for the long haul, building up its established pharmaceutical segment permanently, or will it sell the business? The answer remains to be seen. What do you think?



Tim Wright
Editor
twright@rodmanmedia.com