As Pfizer Readies New Business Units, Amy Schulman Exits

Just a few months after Pfizer tapped general counsel Amy Schulman to head one of three so-called innovative business units that are supposed to take shape in January and widen her executive portfolio, the drugmaker disclosed this morning that she is leaving, according to a brief statement. Replacing as head of the the vaccines, oncology and consumer healthcare business will be Albert Bourla, who has spent 20 years at Pfizer, most recently as president and general manager of what the drugmaker calls its established products business unit. For the past five years, Schulman was a rising star at Pfizer. She was hired by former ceo Jeff Kindler and was later given responsibility for the over-the-counter business. But her potential prominence climbed still higher last July when she was tapped to run one of the three newly formed business groups. Those units emerged as part of a plan for possibly splitting apart various Pfizer businesses. Of the other two commercial units, one will focus on medicines that are expected to have market exclusivity beyond 2015, and another will house drugs that already face generic competition or will lose patent protection by 2015. Each will operate as a separate global business (back story). The notion reflects increasing interest in unlocking shareholder value, a move that Pfizer (PFE) has explored as a way to deflect the fallout from the patent cliff, which was typified by the emergence in late 2011 of a generic version of its best-selling Lipitor ...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs