Pfizer awards bonuses to execs for Wyeth deal

Chief Financial Officer Frank D'Amelio will receive a $1.2 million award and Ian Read, group president of Pfizer's biopharmaceutical business, will receive $1 million, the drugmaker said in a U.S. securities filing.

The compensation committee of the board of directors "determined that these executives, in addition to carrying out their normal, ongoing responsibilities, devoted extraordinary efforts and made extraordinary contributions in addressing critical components of the transaction," Pfizer said.

The contributions included obtaining permanent debt financing "during an unprecedented global financial crisis" and making organizational decisions that positioned Pfizer to integrate the two companies promptly, the drugmaker said.

Half of the payment was paid in cash on Monday, while the rest is to be given in stock grants that vest in the next few years.

The purchase of Wyeth is designed to help the world's largest drugmaker soften the blow from losing U.S. patent protection for Lipitor, the $11 billion-a-year cholesterol medicine, by moving into areas such as vaccines and biotech medicines. Pfizer completed the deal on Oct. 15. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; editing by Carol Bishopric)