Originally posted in   alt.support.cancer.prostate

Drug Costs?

Could this be contributing to the cost of pharmaceuticals?

Pfizer's McKinnell to Get $180M Package
By ELLEN SIMON

NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc.'s former chief executive, Henry A. McKinnell,
who was
forced into an early retirement in part because of investor anger about
his
rich retirement benefits, will get every penny of it and more, a new
regulatory filing shows.

McKinnell's package, which the company disclosed in a filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, totals more than $180
million.
It includes an estimated $82.3 million in pension benefits, $77.9
million in
deferred compensation, and cash and stock totaling more than $20.7
million.

The total value could grow to almost $200 million if McKinnell gets a
$18.3
million stock award, but that is contingent on the future performance
of the
stock of the world's largest drugmaker.

The company said McKinnell's departure "contractually obligated" it
under
his employment agreement to provide McKinnell with certain severance
payments and benefits.

The deferred pension sum includes $67 million of his own money from
prior
compensation he chose to set aside, the company said in the filing.

Beyond that, Pfizer will pay a lump sum severance of $11.9 million and
will
fully vest stock grants worth $5.8 million, according to the filing. He
also
will receive $2.2 million for 2005 bonus payments, $305,644 for unused
vacation time and $576,573 for benefits he would have received had he
stayed
at the drugmaker.

The package also provides him with an annual pension of $6.6 million
until
he dies. Pfizer estimated the pension's lump-sum value to be $82.3
million.

McKinnell vacated the CEO spot in July, 19 months before he was
scheduled to
step down, under pressure from investors angered about his retirement
package and a drop of as much as 40 percent in the company's stock
price
during his five years in charge.

For some investors, already angry over the stock's slide, McKinnell's
retirement package was a flash point. At Pfizer's April annual meeting
in
Lincoln, Neb., a plane flew overhead trailing a banner that said, "Give
it
back, Hank!" Two proxy advisory companies had called for removal of
board
members and the AFL-CIO led a protest against the retirement package.
The
board members were re-elected, however.

McKinnell earned $5.97 million in salary and bonus in 2005. When the
company's proxy was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
in
March, his total compensation for the year was valued at $15.88
million,
including salary, bonus, stock options, stock grants and benefits. The
value
of options and stock varies with the share price.

McKinnell's perquisites in 2005 included $8,500 in financial
counseling,
$65,120 for use of a car and driver and $43,855 for personal use of
company
aircraft, according to the proxy.

New Chief Executive Jeffrey B. Kindler also became chairman Tuesday,
replacing McKinnell, who was not slated to leave until February.

Pfizer declined to make McKinnell available Thursday, and a spokesman
emphasized the differences between McKinnell's pay package and
Kindler's.

Kindler has no contract, has a much lower annual salary than McKinnell
and
has more pay tied to the stock's performance, according to spokesman
Paul
Fitzhenry.

Those differences may not be enough to quench shareholder's anger.

"It's a very big package and I'm sure it's going to raise investor
concerns,
however, it's contractual," said Charles Elson, chair of the Weinberg
Center
for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "The question
is not
that they've paid it, but why, initially, such a contract was entered
into."

The company, which has pledged to cut $4 billion in costs by 2008, is
expected to undergo a radical shake up. Pfizer said in late November
that it
would look for even deeper cuts. Then it suddenly halted development of

cholesterol drug torcetrapib because of safety concerns. The company
had
spent $800 million developing torcetrapib and hoped it would be a
blockbuster.

Pfizer shares fell 14 cents to $26.07 Thursday on the New York Stock
Exchange.

... I hope Santa brings me the mistletoe belt I asked for.