Surgical sponges grow for Pfizer: Gelfoam a longtime revenue producer

Oct 04, 2008 (Detroit Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- PFE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Lipitor and Viagra are the best-known drugs made by Pfizer Inc. But Gelfoam, a hospital surgical product made in Michigan, has been a revenue-producer for the company for more than 50 years.

Now, Pfizer is looking to Gelfoam, a product that helps control bleeding, to boost its sales with a new kit that combines a sponge form of the product with a drug made by Baxter Healthcare Corp. for use in hospitals to control bleeding during surgery.

The federal Food and Drug Administration approved the Gelfoam Plus Hemostatis Kit last year for hospital use.

The product already has triggered "a slight uptick in sales," said Matt Abel, manager and team leader for Pfizer's Gelfoam operations.

Pfizer's Kalamazoo plant, where Gelfoam is made, hopes to make 4 million of the products this year. It comes in sponge and powder form or in thin-film strips used in dentistry. They generated $40 million in domestic sales last year, and another $13 million globally, according to company figures.

"Gelfoam is one of our established products," said Rick Chambers, a Pfizer spokesman. "It's not one of our top-selling products, a Lipitor, but it's added a very steady revenue stream over the years. Our expectation is it will continue to grow."

Gelfoam is the leading topical product to control bleeding, with 14% of the market. It ranks second, behind a Johnson & Johnson item, in all bleeding-control products, he said.

Pfizer invested $12 million to renovate the plant several years ago. The company updated its air-handling, gowning and other measures to improve the sterility of the manufacturing, along with other steps to reduce repetitive strain injury.

About 30 employees produce Gelfoam. In a process compared to the way marshmallows are made, it is manufactured in long, white sterile biodegradable blocks then cut into bricks, before the sheets are put in a slicing machine, followed by a series of moisture-eliminating and sterile paper-packaging steps.

The process takes nearly a month because part of the packaging and inspection is done by hand.

Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT at 313-222-5021 or panstett@freepress.com.

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