As a result of the Warner-Lambert acquisition, Pfizer has more than $5 billion in annual sales coming from its consumer products businesses. How do these businesses fit into the company’s strategy?

Our core business is the discovery, development, and marketing of innovative pharmaceuticals for human and animal health. The vast majority of our products support this core business. Products like Listerine and Lubriderm are great brands that boost the health and well-being of people, and many of the gum, mint, and mentholated candies offered by the Adams confectionary business we acquired with Warner-Lambert also provide measurable health benefits.

Pfizer has entered into a number of alliances with other companies. What is the thinking behind this?

These alliances are important opportunities. Copromoted products help us add value by leveraging our resources, like our award-winning sales force, or an R&D budget second to none. On a broader scale, alliances are an important part of our strategy. We now have more than 450 collaborations with other companies, spanning the earliest stages of drug discovery to late-stage comarketing agreements.

In view of the success of Lipitor, Celebrex, and Aricept, you can understand why other prescription drug companies want us to be their partners. I also believe there is enormous opportunity in consumer health care, and we will seek to become the partner of choice in this arena as well.

You spoke of collaborations. Pfizer now has the world’s largest privately funded biomedical R&D function. Why is R&D so important to Pfizer?

R&D is simply the lifeblood of the company. We intend to set the pace for others to follow. We will not only be prepared for an exciting future, we will shape it.

We have engineered an R&D strategy that unleashes creativity on the discovery side and then brings aggressive, disciplined action to bear on the development of promising compounds. Our plans this year in R&D include executing three major filings and pursuing two existing filings, as well as major action on advanced compounds. We have a research capability that is clearly the best in our industry. We are confident that our R&D investment and strategy will pay off handsomely.

Besides leading Pfizer, on March 31, you will become Chairman of PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), the industry group representing research-focused drug companies. What are the major issues facing the industry this year?

The main issue centers on ensuring access to drugs. Everyone agrees that people who need important drugs should be able to get them. The challenge is to develop a targeted approach that sustains incentives for the American drug industry, which is the most innovative, vibrant drug industry in the world. We do not believe that access and innovation are opposite concepts. We—the industry and the governments that regulate us—are creative enough to do both. We are forging new models, such as our Diflucan donation program in South Africa. (For more information on this issue, please turn to page 73.)

Closer to home, important issues include the further modernization of the FDA, the overhaul of the U.S. Medicare program, and the sale of prescription pharmaceuticals over the Internet.

We believe that pharmaceuticals remain one of the most cost-effective ways to treat disease and ensure longer, healthier lives. Outside the U.S., we are working hard to build partnerships that bring the advantages of our medicines to a waiting world.

Today, Pfizer is one of the most valuable companies on Earth. It trades at a higher multiple than most other major pharmaceutical companies. Is there room for the stock to grow?

Yes, there is, and I am determined to continue our record of increasing shareholder value. We will deliver on our commitment of growing annual diluted earnings per share by an average of 25% through 2002, excluding certain significant items and merger-related costs.

The market is volatile, and Pfizer shares are clearly linked to the fortunes of the overall market. However, we have a stellar record of delivering shareholder value, and we expect to sustain that record through innovation, outstanding execution, and creative approaches to what is our reason for being—helping people and animals live longer, healthier lives.