Exubera Production

So what happens now?

 

Terre Haute sent 600+ employees home today. Local news WTWO is already there

 

Wow! Who could have ever predicted such a thing!

This is the best Birthday present I've ever gotten. :^)

 

Bad, bad news for those who bought houses, cars, etc., and do not wish to relocate.

The Terre Haute housing market has been stagnant for years. There are several hundred houses for sale in the area, many of which have been on the market for more than 12 months. Several plants and major employers in the area have shut down or scaled back recently. Lenders are hesitant to take any chances with the recent sub-prime meltdown. In other words, you can't sell a house in Terre Haute unless you are willing to ask for significantly less than the assessed value.

The job market is no better. There are no opportunities to earn comparable wages in the area and there will be 500 more people seeking jobs in the area.

Good luck to everyone in Terre Haute. It is not your fault this happened, but you will be paying the most for it.

 

They are giving the 600+ employees paid leave for 60 days in order to buy time to figure out what to do with the site. The next inhalable drug is not set to be ready for Terre Haute for years. After all the construction, the site is only good for inhalables unless they undo a lot of work. Basically, all that is left are the antibiotics produced there in small quantity, but when I worked there, everyone kept saying those products would be moved to Michigan by the end of the year. Who knows what the plan is now, but I assume the site will close. Even if they don't, those 600 people will still be out of a job.

 

I feel your pain. Took a huge loss on a home after being "deselected" last year. Not to mention lots of worthless stock options that I had hoped would pay for college. This is a particularly difficult time to try to relocate. But now a year later, I would say that things have turned out better than I ever would have imagined.

It does seem pretty calloused for you have had to hear this first on the news. But, that's PFE for you. And, you can thank their crack marketing team for Exubera. The most botched launch in the history of pharma.

Good luck to all of you in Terre Haute.

 

Thanks for your sensitivity. I know of several employees who had just recently purchased homes in the Terre Haute area and relocated entire families to the vicinity. They were informed at the last minute not to come back and that they were getting a paid leave, but I had not heard for how long. The management were trying to have the optimistic attitude.

 

The Pfizer Titanic is sinking. I feel for you Terra Haute. Pfuck Pfizer

 

Moved accross the county for a "promotion" and 18 months later was let go last year. Funny, had I left on my own I would have had to repay PFE the relo expenses. One "promotion" that cost me a freaking fortune. They really shouldn't be able to do that to people. Especially, in the current real estate market. Relo policy is really a one way street.

 

I believe the proper approach would have been to notify the plant manager and give him a little time to get management together to disseminate the information to the line workers face to face. Instead Kindler sent an email 15 minutes before it splashed in the media. A lot of people found out via WTWO and the Tribune Star!

I understand the need to cut off a $$$ loser like Exubera, but this was handled about as well as the launch... botched like no other. Most reasonable people saw the writing on the wall, it just came a quarter earlier than expected.

Good luck to the rest of you in Terre Haute. I'm packing up the U-Haul and heading down I-70.

 

Exubera Production Ceased

At least Terre Haute will make national news for something other than an execution at the federal pen!

 

Pfizer Terre Haute was a shit hole. I'm glad they are all losing their jobs. Good riddance assholes.

I can't wait to start seeing these peoples resumes come across my desk so I can laugh at each and every one.

Who is on their final warning now? Owned!

 

The way this announcement was handled was bullshit. The top management of Pfizer was way out of line by sending an email to let everyone know. Must be nice to flip switches in New York and not actually have to deal with the fall out. so I say Screw you Kindler and your dumbass upper management team. You'll get what you deserve...ass...

 

Enough with this extended post. It's like having to watch a starving armless child try to eat jello. You guys pfucked up. You trusted pfizer mgmt.

 

Well, I guess we can answer the question what will happen.

Thanks for the acknowledgement. I am one of the employees that got put on 60 days leave and the prior post was from me. I had little doubt that the decision to close the site would be realized given the track record on sales but I am seriously surprised at the way this rolled out, or should I say OVER us at Terre Haute. It was a little un-nerving to have my job/life "changed" by turning on the 11 o'clock news when I got up this morning.

I had just worked the night before and all was fine and as “Pfucked up” as usual at work. I got up to grab some water and flicked on the TV and found out. Turns out everyone at work found out by an email. No notice by local management, just a crap ass email from our good friend Jeff and all hell broke loose.

I am new to Pfizer and Pharma and worked at the site for 1 year and over that time, I can't think of any reason to say that Pfizer ever screwed me or did anything that was reason for me to complain but this seems asinine and vulgar to me. If this is the Pfizer/Pharma way, I think I am going to be happier seeing my way out of it.

One question I have:

In our meeting, we were told the 3Q results equaled out to roughly 12m sales and 50,000 Rx worldwide. Ouch. I understand this is flat busted. BUT...The product is proven to cause no lung damage and there are NO significant safety issues/warnings with this product. The idea behind Exubera was to provide a way to administer insulin to people that could not stand shots and to my understanding, this is the only product able to do this. So now at least a certain percentage of the 50,000 will stop using insulin because they refuse to go to injections. I don't understand how the product could legally be pulled now since it is FDA approved, in use and proven not to be a safety risk to anyone. I have never heard of a medication being pulled from the market simple because it didn't make enough money for someone. What about Pfizer’s responsibility to its customers? I always assumed that once a product went to market, it had to be produced unless either it was deemed as unsafe or a better product was in place to replace it. Exubera is the only inhale available so what can replace it that does not require a needle? I know there are pills but I thought Exubera was for diabetics that had progressed beyond the scope of what oral meds have to offer.

I am sorry for the long post. It’s late and I have had one hell of a day. I am going back to bed and when I get up, I'm leaving the damn TV off.

Peace!


P.S. My image verification to post this was JWSWIP.... HA HA HA HA...Seriously...

J esus
W ork
S ucks
W hen
I t's
P fizer

Hey Pfizer... You can use this accronym if you like.. I release the rights to it to you for free. "JWSWIP"

 

No one on site even knew about this...entire management team was caught with their pants down thanks to the corporate assholes.

 

It's funny to see how slowly the Kool Aid bleeds out. So, you still believe what Pfizer told you or will tell you? When are you going to wake up from your comma?

 

That's just not true. FF and the entire leadership team knew. They knew over a year ago. I was there. I left when I heard the plan rolled out. They plan to layoff 400 people in December and keep 200 people.

There is a great deal of effort going in to no package being offered to those laid off.

The 60 days is Pfizer's new trick to get you to take a new job and lose all chance of a package.

Go take some vacation time and do not get a new job now as it is too late. Hang on and wait until the December layoffs and take the chance on a package or being retained.

 

"One question I have:

In our meeting, we were told the 3Q results equaled out to roughly 12m sales and 50,000 Rx worldwide. Ouch. I understand this is flat busted. BUT...The product is proven to cause no lung damage and there are NO significant safety issues/warnings with this product. The idea behind Exubera was to provide a way to administer insulin to people that could not stand shots and to my understanding, this is the only product able to do this. So now at least a certain percentage of the 50,000 will stop using insulin because they refuse to go to injections. I don't understand how the product could legally be pulled now since it is FDA approved, in use and proven not to be a safety risk to anyone. I have never heard of a medication being pulled from the market simple because it didn't make enough money for someone. What about Pfizer’s responsibility to its customers? I always assumed that once a product went to market, it had to be produced unless either it was deemed as unsafe or a better product was in place to replace it. Exubera is the only inhale available so what can replace it that does not require a needle? I know there are pills but I thought Exubera was for diabetics that had progressed beyond the scope of what oral meds have to offer."


First of all my sympathies to all employees affected by this. I am not an employee but have been badly affected as an investor.

May I say your post again is very good. Everyone knew the product was in trouble, but I don't believe anyone (Pfizer staff, NKTR [the CEO has since said he got a call in bed at 4.30am pacific from a reporter] investors, analysts) thought they would actually pull the plug. This news is literally a bombshell.

Answer to your question:

They have said they are going to "help educate" the patients to use other therapies. I think all hell is going to let loose. This has been decided at THE VERY TOP and to keep it so quiet I believe they have not canvassed the advice of all the various stakeholders, not least the patients & the Regulatory bodies throughout the world where the product has been launched.

It may well be that they will have to maintain the product on the market until a new marketing partner can be found.

Pharmaceuticals DO get discontinued, but usually when they become obsolete through newer innovations and this just cannot be argued here.

This has got a way to run.

Best regards & good luck.

 

Thank you for the follow up comment and your kind words. I hope this causes all hell to break loose on Jeff and Co. as it should. I know my job is all but lost and even if there is a stay put in place for Exubera it won't make a difference to anyone from the production group. Pfizer probably has at least an 18 month supply of Exubera setting in warehouses so continuing to supply this very narrow market should not be an issue. with a 3 month time frame, it seems like Jeff's media rep could have written the letter more in the following fasion:

"We at Pfizer intend to wipe our hands of this mess and be done with it. I am Courageous enough to publicly admit that someone other than me screwed up (damn lousy marketing department...shows what those idiots are good for) and to prove that I am the HMFIC [Head Mother-Fucker in Charge] I willl now throw a percentage of our investor's 2007 profit margin over it, kindly and compasionatly usher 600 people into an employement line and tenderly explain to the consumers that fear of needles is a rediculous notion that, with my help, can be cured in 3 months. "

Sincerly...yadyadyada

Pretso! right as rain 1Q 2008". I love me.

If you want to have a good laugh, look up "Pfizer Values" and place the word Pfizer next to each one of the items listed, think of the kids television show Sesame Street and the song "One of these things just doesn't belong here" and see if you don't laugh.

Peace!