229.1 news 520-1.indd MHCNS 520 9 . 1 n e w to region,” says Ulrich Bathmann, a biological seem to vary very substantially from region sites, and culled research programmes (see (see programmes research culled and sites, employees,16,000 manufacturing15 closed behemoth, a be would — Pfizer name the 520 blow. A study cheaply and efficiently has received a further can help suck up atmospheric carbon dioxide The theory that adding iron to the oceans Ocean fertilization: dead in the water? announced before the Wyeth purchase. of its workforce. This includes 8,000 job losses it intends to cut 19,500 more jobs, losing 15% Nature that is the best-selling drug in the world. atorvastatin (Lipito of its patents on several key drugs, including out funds from the US government. banks, some of which recently received bail- five of syndicate a by backed billion, $22.5 cash and stock resources, along with a loan of Pfizer’s on draw will year, this late close to rent financial crisis. The acquisition, expected Jersey, an unusually large deal given the cur- $68 billion for Wyeth, based in Madison, New US$71 billion in revenue. Pfizer will pay about with nearly 130,000 employees and more than reputationstrong in a biologics and vaccines. with company a Wyeth, acquire to intends it that January 26 on announced Pfizer larger. even get to set is companies pharmaceutical biggest world’s the of One Pfizer to buy Wyeth in $68-billion deal NEWS similar study in the nearby Kerguelen region amount that scientists had determined during a decades, was almost 80 times smaller than the metres’ depth, where it will stay for a couple of iron, the amount of carbon sequestered to 200 team found that, relative to one unit of added 2,000 kilometres southeast of South Africa. The near the Crozet Islands, an archipelago some fertilization on algal growth and carbon export Discovery 2005, scientists on board the British vessel RSS than previously estimated. iron-induced carbon sequestration is far lower Nature s
5 2 “Ecosystem response and carbon export Both Wyeth and Pfizer have strong research shed has Pfizer years, two past the Over The deal comes as Pfizer nears the expiry dates under united company — combined The During the CROZEX experiment in 2004 and 0 - 1 . i (see page 577) finds that the potential of n
456, d d observed the impact of natural iron
M H 6–7; 2008). The company now says
1 C published in this week’s issue of N S
5 2 r), a cholesterol medication 0 2 . carried out before the experiment could start 13 January that an independent assessment be and political concerns, the ministry had ruled on Southern Ocean. Responding to environmental that has been waiting to get going in the Indo-German ocean-fertilization experiment ministry gave the green light to LOHAFEX, an more complex the story gets.” in the new study. “And the closer you look, the Bremerhaven, Germany, who was not involved (AWI) for Polar and Marine Research in oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute comprised of complex biological molecules. ticularly in vaccines and in biologics — drugs acquisition will diversify Pfizer’s pipeline, par- executive Jeffrey Kindler says that the Wyeth animal health-care products. But Pfizer chief in and Alzheimer’sdisease, as such system, programmes in diseases of the central nervous Pfizer’s headquarters in New York, where Pfizer and Wyeth announced that they would merge. blowing off the Crozet Islands settles on the ocean fertilization, in which iron-rich dust Southampton, UK, looked instead at natural of the National Oceanography Centre in between Argentina and the Antarctic Peninsula. iron sulphate into a 300-square-kilometre area the LOHAFEX team plans to dump 20 tonnes of From aboard the German vessel RV )''0DXZd`ccXeG Separately, on 26 January, the German science The CROZEX study, led by Raymond Pollard lYc`j_\i jC`d`k \[%8cci`^_kji Polarstern \j\im 3 , . \[ once,” says Pollard. “The effect will still be much shock the system by dumping a lot of iron all at the levels of atmospheric CO satisfying that would not have a large effect on total ocean surface had a craving for iron, CROZEX results imply that even if the world’s that Wyeth markets with Amgen of Thousand (Enbrel) — an arthritis and psoriasis therapy the world’s best-selling vaccine, and etanercept against meningitis in infants and children is (Prevnar) conjugatevaccine pneumococcal portfolio with two top-selling products. The fertile waters for iron seeding larger than the entire Southern Ocean, the most would require treating an ocean area ten times released every year as a result of human activity cautioned that removing 30% of the carbon findings are sobering. Previously, scientists had a rough estimate of carbon sequestration, the experiments, had suggested. near as massive as the Kerguelen study, and lab export of carbon to the deep ocean was nowhere Ireland. But sediment probes revealed that the biological productivity over an area the size of of iron triggered a two- to threefold increase in waters. The team observed that some 270 tonnes “You might get a different response if you In the short term, Wyeth can bolster Pfizer’s Although the study design allowed for only NATURE | Vol 457 2 4 . . Scaled up, the | 29 January2009 227/1/09 14:12:09 7 / 1 / 0 9
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