NEW YORK (AP) — Pfizer Inc. on Friday extended its partnership with Japanese drugmaker Eisai on the Alzheimer’s treatment Aricept, and said the companies will also team up to sell the nerve pain and epilepsy drug Lyrica. Pfizer and Eisai will continue to co-market Aricept in the U.S., Japan, and some markets in Europe, and Eisai will gain the Japanese rights to the drug on Dec. 31, 2012. Pfizer will have exclusive rights to Aricept in other countries, and will keep those rights until July 2022. Lyrica has not yet been approved in Japan, but if it is approved, the companies plan to co-promote it until July 2022. Both companies say the agreement resolved a dispute about their partnership, which began in October 1994.
