Pfizer To Acquire Wyeth in $68 Billion Blockbuster Deal

Negotiations continued into Sunday night, with an anticipated announcement on Monday that Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker of products like Lipitor and Viagra, agreed in principle to acquire a rival, Wyeth, for $68 billion. The deal would create the largest pharmaceutical company in the world and it would be the first big acquisition that is not a desperate merger of two banks orchestrated by the government in over six months. It would be the biggest merger in three years, since AT&T acquired BellSouth.

Five banks have agreed to lend Pfizer more than $25 billion to pay for the deal, four of which received bailout money: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. In addition, Barclays, which acquired Lehman Brothers out of bankruptcy in the fall, is also providing financing. Pfizer, which has $26 billion in cash and equivalents, would finance the remainder through a combination of cash and stock.

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plez sez: have you tried to get a loan in the last four months? will your bank lend you $680,000, $68,000, or even $680?!?

this acquisition - which sickens plezWorld - that the bailout was a remnant of reaganomics... that failed trickle down economics b.s.! pfizer will fire sales reps and feather their bottom-line until they shore up their drug pipeline and their fat cat CEO will continue to smell like a rose... and the wyeth CEO will get the most golden of parachutes!

there is a joke in this deal about viagra and pfizer having a hard-on for wyeth for more than four hours, but this is no laughing matter! i'm going to have to go have a long hard look at Obama's stimulus package to see if it is something that plezWorld can continue to support... where you at, RawDawg?

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Read the New York Times article about Pfizer acquisition of Wyeth.

Read the CNN Money article about Pfizer's $68 billion deal for Wyeth.

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Heath Ledger - R.I.P.

The New York City Medical Examiner's office states that Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose of prescription medications including painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills. A deadly cocktail of drugs were found in his body at the time of his death:

Oxycodone -- narcotic/painkiller; trade names: OxyContin, Percodan

Hydrocodone -- narcotic/painkiller; trade name (combined with acetaminophen): Vicodin

Diazepam -- anti-anxiety drug; trade name: Valium

Alprazolam -- anti-anxiety drug; trade name: Xanax

Doxylamine -- sleep medication; trade name: Unisom

Temazepam -- sleep medication; trade name: Restoril

This combination of drugs could cause the brain and brain stem to "fall asleep," halting heart and lung function.

Read the entire CNN article here.


plez sez: i feel sorry for his family & friends, the glare of the hollywood scene can be a bit much for celebrities. couple that with a mysterious death of an otherwise healthy individual and you have fodder for 2 months of teasers on Entertainment Tonight.

but how is injesting SIX different powerful narcotics accidental? i've had vicodin after a minor surgery and that *ISH* will knock you the F**K OUT! after taking one, i was out within minutes and i would be asleep for 3 to 4 hours.

i don't know heath ledger, except for what i've seen on the nightly news: i haven't seen any of his movies, and i imagine he was an alright fellow... but this story doesn't jive with me. to my way of thinking, if you take a lethal dose of SIX powerful narcotics and anti-depressants, you ain't expecting to wake up - that is no accident. and i should know, i have a good friend who attempted suicide when we were in college - he didn't take the whole bottle, he took enough to where he thought that he wouldn't wake up... and he was SHOCKED when he woke up the next day! to me, it looks like ledger had a more successful go at it.