Analysts express concern regarding Pfizer's lack of acquisitions

NEW YORK Pfizer’s failure to make big acquisitions will cost them their No. 1 position in the pharmaceutical market, according to Reuters.

Investors had long expected Pfizer to acquire another large drugmaker or sizable biotechnology companies to gain rights to new medicines before it loses U.S. patent protection on its Lipitor cholesterol fighter in 2011.

What’s worse is that while Pfizer doesn’t make any major moves, the competition is. Roche Holding offered $44 billion to buy all the outstanding shares of the biotech company Genentech and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $4.5 billion offer for the biotech company ImClone Systems.

Pfizer responded to its lack of acquisition by saying it has been focusing on deals in the past 18 months, including a global licensing deal in April with Avant Immunotherapeutics for a promising brain cancer treatment in mid-stage trials. “These strategic deals add depth to our pipeline and the potential for new, innovative medicines,” Pfizer said.

Some analysts say Pfizer should make offers for big companies like Wyeth and Biogen, while others say the company should focus on acquiring small and mid-sized companies that have drugs in mid-level testing to avoid paying high costs for the drugs that are further in development or paying a small amount for a drug that hasn’t even begun testing and might not work at all.