Pfizer, Drugmaker | featured news

Pfizer hopes to have an over-the-counter version of the world’s best-selling drug after it loses patent protection.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. says revenue in the third quarter jumped 39 percent due to its acquisition of fellow drugmaker Wyeth, but hefty charges dragged its profit down 70 percent.

Pfizer Inc, the world's biggest drugmaker, has agreed to buy King Pharmaceuticals Inc for $3.6 billion, expanding its presence in the market for pain drugs.

Drugmaker Pfizer will cut 6,000, or 18 percent, of jobs at its 78 manufacturing plants over the next five years as it consolidates operations after  last year's purchase of  Wyeth.

Cost-cutting at drug maker Pfizer helps it to increase third-quarter profits despite falling sales of its medicines.

Pfizer Inc.'s $68 billion purchase of Wyeth will close Thursday after antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Canada cleared the deal, which will make Pfizer the world's largest drugmaker by revenue.

Pfizer Inc. is unveiling a new program Thursday that will let people who have lost their jobs and health insurance keep taking some widely prescribed Pfizer medications - including Lipitor and Viagra - for free for up to a year.