comprehensive

Pfizer has a big problem. The drug giant hopes that new drugs to treat cancer are the solution.

Shares in the drugmaker fell 44% last year, and it now has a market capitalization of only $150 billion — a quarter that of Eli Lilly and half that of longtime rival Merck. In March of last year the company announced that it would spend $43 billion to buy Seagen, a maker of a hot category of oncology medicines called antibody-drug conjugates. Pfizer’s shares have slumped another 9% so far this year. On Thursday, executives are holding an investor briefing to try to convince shareholders that its bet will pay off.

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In an interview with STAT, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was insistent that the deal’s potential is being missed.

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