Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth should have no impact on Canadian producers of pregnant mare’s urine, said a spokesperson for the PMU industry.
“We’re not looking for any drastic changes. If fact we’re excited about it,” said Norm Luba, executive director of the North American Equine Ranching Information Council, an organization that represents 64 PMU producers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota.
Luba added that producers shouldn’t worry because Premarin, the hormone therapy drug made from pregnant mare’s urine, is an essential pharmaceutical in Pfizer’s portfolio.
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“We know this is a very important product to Pfizer, as it has been to the Wyeth company, and we have no indication that anything is going to change.”
Last week, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and its counterpart, the Canadian Competition Bureau, approved Pfizer’s $58 billion acquisition of Wyeth.
The green light for the deal, first announced in January, means Pfizer takes over Wyeth’s Canadian operations including its PMU processing plant in Brandon, which employs 190 people.
Although Luba remains confident that the status quo should prevail, a Pfizer Canada spokesperson said the company is considering its options.
“Because the different business units, divisions and functional areas are currently at different stages in their integration process, we do not know at this time what the impacts on Pfizer Canada will be,” said Julie-Catherine Racine, senior manager of corporate communications for Pfizer Canada, in an e-mail.
Industry confidence
Nonetheless, Luba said that Pfizer’s size as the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, should be a positive for PMU producers.
“I personally have not had the opportunity to meet with any Pfizer representatives yet. But I look forward to that and I think the industry looks forward to the opportunities that Pfizer will bring… they’re a larger company with a larger sales force worldwide,” said Luba from the head office of the PMU producer association in Kentucky.
While he did not provide specific numbers, Luba said the number of PMU operations in Canada is less than half of a decade ago, primarily because recommended dosages of hormone replacement have been reduced.
The 2002 results of a large clinical trial also affected the number of PMU barns on the Prairies.
The Women’s Health Initiative study was stopped during the trial because women taking the hormone replacement had higher levels of breast cancer and strokes. Subsequent research has questioned the validity of that study, but the initial results cut into hormone replacement sales, forcing Wyeth to halve the number of its mares.
There are now 5,500 mares in production, Luba said, at 49 PMU farms in Manitoba, 13 in Saskatchewan and two in North Dakota.
