Sunday, November 2, 2008

Wyeth latest drugmaker to narrow focus of research

Like many of the top pharmaceutical companies, Wyeth is narrowing its research focus to far fewer diseases as it tries to produce more successful new drugs, particularly for conditions lacking good treatments.

Wyeth is even ending research in its signature areas in women's health - contraceptives and menopause treatments - and switching to other female health problems with an unmet need, such as ovarian cancer and lupus.

The Madison, N.J.-based company is scaling back from doing research in its current 14 therapeutic areas to just six, Dr. Evan Loh, a Wyeth vice president, said Wednesday. Instead of doing research on a total of 55 diseases, it now will work on 27.

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