When Jeffrey Kindler took over Pfizer Inc. last summer, he promised to be more open, according to the WSJ. And he had good reasons to make those promises.
The New York Times wrote the following the day after his appointment:
Until this year, Pfizer has rarely reached out to investors or analysts, an analyst at Miller Tabak, Les Funtleyder, said. “I would hope that whoever’s running the place would be more willing to get out in the field and talk to investors,” he said. “If there is a lesson, at least one, be more accessible to Wall Street.”
This should be compared with what Bloomberg News reported today:
Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler, in a rare public appearance (my italics), said sales will decline for the drugmaker's top-selling product, the Lipitor cholesterol pill, because of cheaper competition.
Kindler, a former McDonald's Corp. executive, generally doesn't make himself available to investors, analysts and journalists. That's probably because he's still familiarizing himself with the health-care industry, said analyst Joseph Tooley of AG Edwards & Sons.
And finally Bloomberg had this wonderful quote:
"Pfizer's really a slow-moving boat,'' said analyst Les Funtleyder of Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. "Kindler's got a tough deal. There's not a lot he can necessarily do.''
So what, exactly, is Kindler getting paid to do? Familiarize himself with the health-care industry?
We're just wondering.
Hat tip: Pharmagossip.
- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.
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