Brussels, 06/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Amélia Torres, spokesperson for Commissioner Monti responsible for competition policy, announced that the European Commission had reactivated the review procedure concerning the merger between the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Pharmacia Corp. Last November, the procedure had been suspended according to the "stop the clock" measure, as the Commission wished to have complementary information as the preliminary one month review did not allow analysis. The European Executive has recently received information and decided to get the clock going again by fixing 27 February as a buffer date. "This new deadline includes a two-week extension as companies have presented several commitments", the spokesperson said. If Pfizer and Pharmacia were to merge all their activities without selling a single one to third parties, the concentration would pose serious competition problems as Pfizer alone already ranks first worldwide for pharmaceutical products. By taking on Pharmacia, Pfizer would confirm its leading position with a global market share of 10%. According to Reuters, Pfizer could be forced to sell "Darifenacin", an experimental product against incontinence as Pharmacia is already present in this sector with "Detrol LA", for which annual sales are worth $500 million. We recall that the modalities for the merger had been fixed last July. According to these terms, Pfizer (turnover $32.26 billion in 2001 with 59,600 employed and a stock market capitalisation of $201 billion) will acquire its compatriot Pharmacia (turnover $13.84 billion in 2001 with 90,000 employed and stock exchange capitalisation of $42 billion) in a transaction evaluated at $60 billion, via a share swap fixed at 1.4 Pfizer shares to one Pharmacia share. Pharmacia had at the time also pledged to sell its activities in Monsanto, in which it holds an 84% stake.