Pfizer seeks boost from biotech drugs

Pfizer Inc, which became the biggest drugmaker selling widely prescribed pills such as the Lipitor heart medicine, is preparing to enter the business of making cheaper copies of pricey, injectable drugs from biotechnology. The company may sell its first copies of medicines like Amgen Inc’s anemia therapy Epogen or Sanofi-Aventis SA’s blood thinner Lovenox in four to five years, and eventually market 10 to 15 such drugs, said David Simmons, head of Pfizer’s Established Products Business Unit. Pfizer has its own biologics, such as the arthritis treatment Enbrel, which it got from its acquisition of Wyeth, and the human growth hormone Genotropin, that may face competition once legislation is enacted.