Cars & Drugs

My friend is in town to visit. He's a drug rep for Pfizer, and he was telling me some very interesting things about his company, that had a very familiar echo. Apparently, Pfizer has been relying heavily on one drug--Lipitor--for much of its profits for several years now. It seems the company had gotten quite complacent with its cash cow, and instead of focusing on developing more drugs within its traditional R&D channels, Pfizer went on a buying spree, snapping up hot shot drugs like Celebrex that never quite panned out the way they'd hoped.

As most of us know, Pfizer has had to close facilities and cut jobs (20% of its sales force alone). But the company has a new plan now, and while many analysts are concerned about its future pipeline, my friend insists that the company still has a strong product lineup.

Okay, if you're getting a feeling of deja vu, there's a reason. You could basically swap out a few words in the previous two paragraphs for terms like, say, "Ford", "SUVs", "European luxury brands" and "blue collar workers", and it would be the exact same story you've been reading in Automotive News for the past year. Hell, both companies even sport a blue oval!

So here's hoping that different industries can learn from one another. While they're at it, they might as well work out a trade of some cars for Xanax.