Pfizer Inc to split company into three units

(Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday it would split its business into three units and one of them would include a new hospital business segment.

The three new units are innovative medicines, established medicines and consumer healthcare.

The company said the innovative medicines business and consumer healhcare would together comprise about three-quarter of its revenue based on 2017 results.

"This new structure represents a natural evolution of these businesses, given the ongoing strength of our in-market products and our late-stage pipeline and the expected significant reduction in the impact of patent protection losses post-2020," Pfizer's Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said.

The move comes a day after the company decided to defer drug price increases for no more than six months, after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Pfizer and other U.S. drugmakers for raising list prices of some medicines.

The established medicines unit would include the majority of the company's off-patent brands, including Viagra and neurological disease treatment Lyrica.

Pfizer said a loss of exclusivity for blockbuster fibromyalgia treatment Lyrica is expected to occur in or after December 2018.

The changes would come into effect at the start of fiscal 2019.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru)