Pfizer Breaks Some More Rules (PFE)(TEVA)

Every time Wall St. turns around, Pfizer has something new, and not necessarily good, going on. The turmoil at the company cost the CEO his job. The company is now going through a restructuring that will send a lot of employees out the door behind him.The company recently disclosed that its new heart medication, torcetrapib, raises blood pressure.Outside Pfizer’s control is another batch of bad news. Teva, a generics manufacturer is making a drug that competes with Pfizer blockbuster Zoloft.And, Wall St. believes that the Democrats will try to force down drug prices for the underprivileged. Not so good.Now, Pfizer has released data on its new cholesterol drug ahead of an important meeting of heart doctors. That violates the societies rules, which seem high handed, so Pfizer can’t present at the American Heart Associations’ annual scientific meeting. Since the news about torcetrapib has not been completely positive, the presentation was important for Pfizer.Someone needs to give Pfizer management a rule book.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.