Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), the world’s biggest drugmaker, named Chief Executive Ian Read to the additional post of chairman and authorized buying back company stock for up to $10 billion. Read succeeds George Lorch, who will become lead independent director of Pfizer’s board. The appointment is effective immediately. The company, whose best-selling Lipitor cholesterol fighter lost U.S. patent protection on November 30, also raised its quarterly dividend by 10 percent. As of November 1, Pfizer bought $6.5 billion in company stock this year, or 332 million shares, toward a goal of buying back $7 billion to $9 billion worth of shares during the full year. The new stock repurchases will be in addition to the funds left from the earlier repurchase program, Pfizer said.
