Future Business and Society Issues for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Research Paper Example

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals: A Brief History

Pfizer Pharmaceutical has undergone major mergers before becoming the successful company that it is today. In April 2000, a merger took place between Pharmacia & Upjohn and Monsanto & G.D Searle, forming Pharmacia. The merger resulted in continued agreements between Searle and Pfizer with the main aim being promotion of Celebrex.

Monsanto, Pharmacia’s agricultural subsidiary, was taken through a spin-off before Pfizer officially took over the ownership of the Chesterfield Site in April 2003. This was a major step towards the Pharmacia acquisition. In April 16, 2003, Pharmacia Corporation and Pfizer Inc started operating as one company. This is how Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s most treasured companies, was born.

Currently, this company operates in four campuses: Chesterfield, St. Louis, Newstead and Maryville. The St. Louis plant covers 200 acres. At Louis Labs, Celebrex and Inspra are manufactured. Celebrex treats arthritis while Inspra is for hypertension. Other products manufactured here are Genotrophin and Somavert, both of which are for treating hormone disorders.

Future Business and Society Issues for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals faces new future business and society challenges in its bid to expand its operations and market base. In 2009, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals opened a 330,000-square foot research facility at Chesterfield.  The investment was worth $200 million. As the company looks ahead into the five years to come, here are the main business and society issues that its management will have to address:

Innovation for Integration for Improved Patient Assistance

With the recent $200 million investment, the main challenge is integrating scientists who used to operate in the St. Louis region. It is hoped that this will increase technical innovations and operational efficiency in order for new medicines to be produced.

Climate Change

Today’s global community is continually changing and this is affecting climate trends. These changes translate into shifts in terms of healthcare needs. The company faces a big challenge of responding to wellness and health needs patients while at the same time operating within a policy framework of acceptable business practices (Vian et al, 2007). A future that promises a better reputation for this company is a future whereby all manufacturing procedures used are environment-friendly.

Access to Medicines

Pfizer Pharmaceutical is involved in corporate social responsibility programs that target underinsured and uninsured populations with a need for Pfizer medicines. For the next five years, this program will have a lot of business significance in terms of how the company presents its image to the society and the costs involved.

Corporate Expenditures

In a world where success of companies is judged not only by their profits but also the principles lived (Jackson & Nelson, 2004), Pfizer Pharmaceutical has to continue pursuing all its existing international philanthropic initiatives, chief among them the Global Health Fellows Program, into the foreseeable future. This translates into increased corporate expenditure.

Investment in Research

At Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, research is very important in order for important technological changes to be incorporated in production of medicines. More money will therefore have to be pumped into research in the next five years.

References

Jackson, I. A., & Nelson, J. (2004). Profits with principles: Seven strategies for delivering value with values. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Vian, et al, (2007), Corporate social responsibility in global health: the Pfizer Global Health Fellows international volunteering program. Human Resource Planning Journal 30(1), pp. 30-35.