Pfizer wants to become more like J&J - easier said than done

Jacob Goldstein posts at the Wall Street Journal Health blog that Pfizer's Jeff Kindler is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that:

“We are breaking the company down into smaller units so we aren’t dependent on any single product. I am a great admirer of J&J and Abbott’s business model.”

While Kindler expresses admiration for J&J and Abbott, the article goes on to stress that Pfizer is a long way from replicating the business models of those two companies.

Goldstein goes on to write:

If you were about to lose a $12 billion-a-year blockbuster, you too would be eager to be less dependent on any single product. J&J is indeed a famously decentralized company, and Kindler last year said he would reorganize Pfizer into smaller business units.

What’s more, the Wyeth acquisition will help Pfizer diversify into businesses such as animal health, consumer products and vaccines.

But the buy will hardly turn Pfizer into another J&J. Pfizer will likely pull in less revenue from Wyeth’s consumer health division (which includes brands such as ChapStick and Advil) than it drew from its old consumer health business, which it sold in 2006 to J&J.

What’s more, Pfizer still won’t be a player in the medical device business, which has been central to Abbott’s growth and a key piece of J&J’s revenues.

Way back in the ’90s, Pfizer had its own medical devices unit. But the prescription drug business was booming at the time, so the company sold off its medical device business.

The question now is - Does Pfizer intend to go out an acquire a Medical Device company in a bid to remake their company?