Pfizer CEO: Best to Back Parts of Health Reform

In this Jan. 26, 2009 file photo, Jeffrey Kindler, left, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, and Bernard...

In this Jan. 26, 2009 file photo, Jeffrey Kindler, left, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, and Bernard Poussot, president, chairman and CEO of Wyeth, speak at a news conference in New York. With Pfizer Inc. about to acquire rival drugmaker Wyeth and its expertise in making pricey and complex biologic drugs, Kindler strongly supports allowing generic versions of them. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)

(AP)

With Pfizer Inc. about to acquire rival drugmaker Wyeth and its expertise in making pricey and complex biologic drugs, Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler strongly supports allowing generic versions of them.

"Done right, with regard to the safety of the products, biological follow-ons are a very appropriate thing to do," he said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. "We support that, especially because we're now buying a large biotech operation."

Wyeth's biologic products include the blockbuster arthritis medicine Enbrel, cancer drug Mylotarg and hemophilia treatments BeneFix and ReFacto. Pfizer has 17 biologic drugs in development but sells only one, Macugen for macular degeneration.

Top drugmakers are piling into this area because biologic drugs, made in living cells, can cost $1,000 and up per month and so far haven't faced lower-price generic competitors. But legislation was introduced last week to create a pathway for regulators to approve what have been called "biosimilar" drugs, and President Obama has been touting the idea as one way to control health care costs.

Kindler said Pfizer's increasing expertise in the area "could provide us with an opportunity to make biologic follow-ons" of its own, Wyeth's and possibly rivals' biotech drugs.

He also backs government-sponsored research comparing drug effectiveness, unlike many in his industry concerned that could cut into sales.

"I'm certainly for the idea of providing a way to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of different kinds of treatments," including medicines, hospitalization and lifestyle changes, he said.

Kindler called it "an area with a lot of promise, if it's done right," openly, and not "driven entirely by cost considerations but rather by considerations of value."

His somewhat contrarian views come as the drug industry is in upheaval, forced to slash jobs and other costs as a tidal wave of generic competition to 1990s' blockbuster pills cuts revenues while research operations aren't producing nearly enough replacements. Those two trends are behind the recent flurry of mergers including Pfizer's.