Another Punch in the Nose for Pfizer

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What's worse than having your drug's sales cut by 80% thanks to generic competition? Having its sales cut by 100% when the FDA changes the drug's status to over-the-counter.

That's what happened to Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) on Friday when the Food and Drug Administration approved ZYRTEC-D for over-the-counter sales. It will actually be more like "behind-the-counter-but-in-front-of-the-Plexiglas-that-shields-the-pharmacist" sales, because the allergy drug contains pseudoephedrine, which can be used to make methamphetamine. The 10-foot move the drug will make to its new shelf triggers a change in which company markets the drug. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) will be able to market the drug once the patent runs out at the end of the month because it purchased Pfizer's consumer health-care business last year.

The change in ZYRTEC-D's status is a good sign that the FDA will give regular ZYRTEC -- the same antihistamine without pseudoephedrine -- over-the-counter status soon. Even a fraction of the $1.6 billion a year in sales that prescription ZYRTEC fetches could help Johnson & Johnson justify the $16.6 billion it paid for Pfizer's consumer health-care business.

ZYRTEC will have to compete with OTC versions of Schering-Plough's (NYSE: SGP) Claritin and Johnson & Johnson's own oldie-but-goodie, Benadryl. But the OTC status should make it more accessible than prescription-only drugs such as Sanofi-Aventis' (NYSE: SNY) Allegra and Schering-Plough's CLARINEX.

The FDA's move was expected, so there weren't any wild moves in stock price in either direction for Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson, but you can add ZYRTEC-D to the laundry list of products that J&J sells. If J&J can continue to increase sales of its consumer health-care products and turn around its stent business, it would have a chance to get out of its funk.

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11/23/2009 4:01 PM
JNJ $62.69 Up +0.38 +0.61%
Johnson & Johnson CAPS Rating: *****
PFE $18.53 Up +0.17 +0.93%
Pfizer, Inc. CAPS Rating: ****
SGP $28.15 Down +0.00 +0.00%
Schering-Plough Co… CAPS Rating: ****
SNY $38.62 Up +0.95 +2.52%
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