New York: The world’s largest drug company, Pfizer, has handled mergers badly, invented too few drugs and left its reputation in disrepair after two criminal cases.

YESTERDAY thousands of families across the world woke up to the same threat of unemployment now hanging over those connected with Cork’s Pfizer plant.

SOME people fear that yesterday’s decision by Pfizer to scale back its Irish operations could prove to be as important as the day when the US pharmaceutical giant decided to set up operations back in 1969.