From Big Macs to Lipitor: Pfizer CEO Takes Early Retirement

By Kathy Merrell

We don't know if irony or cynicism was at play four and a half years ago when Lipitor manufacturer Pfizer picked former McDonald's executive (and Harvard-trained lawyer) Jeffrey Kindler to be both its new chief executive and chairman of the board. Kindler, 55 years old--who now says he's worn out and wants to retire (don't we all)--has lead Pfizer through one legal imbroglio after another, and has been rather richly rewarded for it. Just last year he pulled down a cool $14.9 million in total compensation according to Forbes; you'd think that kind of pay could buy him plenty of downtime at the spa on his days off.Jeffrey Kindler

Let's take a look at what the former junk food maven (before heading to Pfizer, Kindler chaired Boston Market Corporation and was president of Partner Brands, both owned by McDonald's) has been presiding over at Pfizer that's made him so very tired. In September 2009, Pfizer agreed to the largest healthcare fraud settlement in history, paying a $2.3 billion fine to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs (the painkiller Bextra; Geodon, an antipsychotic; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug). As part of the settlement, Pfizer payed a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, which at the time was the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S. for any matter, according to the Justice Department.

A full $1 billion of last year's settlement was for illegally marketing Bextra for off-label uses at unapproved doses. One of the whistle-blower salesman said he was told by the company to distribute to rheumatologists and orthopedists double the F.D.A. approved dose of Bextra for arthritis. News to Pfizer, you can't supersize prescription drugs!

This year, Pfizer has already had three manufacturing related recalls of its cholesterol-lowering blockbuster, Lipitor. Lipitor's patent is set to expire in November 2011, a fact that's been hanging over Pfizer like an executioners axe for a couple of years now. According to the company the manufacturing problems--which caused a musty odor in Lipitor bottles--were all traced back to a third-party factory. Maybe new Pfizer CEO, Ian Rand, who apparently has a pharmaceutical background, will be a bit more circumspect as he tries to squeeze the margins out of the company's cash cows. After all, managing the production of life-saving drugs is not exactly like squeezing an extra couple of cents out of a the Boston Market Homestyle Meatloaf and Cheddar Sandwich.

This month, Pfizer even made the rogues gallery of Vanity Fair. In the investigative piece "Deadly Medicine" we learn that just before the company hired Kindler as General Counsel in 2002, Pfizer was getting into hot water for promoting Celebrex when studies were turning up serious concerns about possible link between Celebrex and the risk of stroke and heart attack. The F.D.A. even sent a warning letter. The company says it "acted responsibly in sharing its information in a timely manner with the F.D.A." It's a wonder the company even has a handle on drug safety testing information when so many of the complex web of tests it is conducting to satisfy regulatory oversite are taking place offshore, where test subjects are aplenty and scientific oversite rather scant.

According to Vanity Fair, "an informal, country-by-country accounting by Vanity Fair turned up no fewer than 207 Celebrex trials in at least 36 other countries. They ranged from 1 each in Estonia, Croatia, and Lithuania to 6 each in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Russia to 8 in Mexico, 9 in china, and 10 in Brazil." It really is exhausting to think of how difficult Mr. Kindler's job must be.

The company has had notable R&D failures with Kindler at the helm. The much ballyhooed inhaled insulin, Exubera, was pulled under swirling rumors of a link with lung cancer. The company has conceded failure with the oddly-named torcetrapib, its planned drug to replace Lipitor; Dimebon, an Alzheimers drug in late stages of development; Sutent, for kidney and stomach cancer; and Apixiban, a blood thinner. The pharm business just seems an awful lot harder than the fast food racket.

Kindler says he wants to spend more time with his family. We wonder if he won't head back to junk food, where margins are easier to tweak, and, let's face it, there's very little safety testing required before launching a new Roasted Turkey and Swiss on a Baguette.

Comments

[Spencer @ 4rx]

Being the chief executive of world's largest drug maker, he should have expected that the job is definitely "extremely demanding." Some were actually surprised that a legal counsel was the choice as the company's CEO because of his lack of pharmaceuticals experience. 4rx

[Florence @ buy xenical]

It was sad to see that the CEO took early retirement. I totally agree with him when he called obesity a “symbol of behavior changes and cultural changes.” I think that a president can drive cultural change in bringing obesity crisis to a downward trend. buy xenical