Pfizer has announced plans to give free drugs to people who have lost their jobs following the credit crunch.

A new programme titled Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need (Maintain) will give 12 month supplies of medication to Americans in financial hardship who lose their jobs and their health insurance this year. This will presumably include the hundreds of scientists Pfizer is itself laying off.

“We all know people who have been laid off recently and have lost their health insurance, making it difficult for them to pay for health care,” says Jorge Puente, the company’s regional president of Worldwide Pharmaceuticals. “We thought there must be some way we could help recently unemployed people who are taking Pfizer medicines to continue treatment during these challenging economic times.”

Over 70 drugs are on the free list, including Viagra and cholesterol medication Lipitor.

“Pharma’s obviously always trying to work on their image. It gets them to be able to say, ‘We can help out in a recession and help people afford our drugs.’” Jon LeCroy, an analyst with Natixis Bleichroeder, told the WSJ. The Journal also highlights schemes from Abbott and Merck to help the needy.

Bizarrely, earlier this week GlakoSmithKline nixed claims that it was planning to offer a 50% discount on medicines to the uninsured. Those claims were based on a press release issued in error, said the company (see: FiercePharma).

Image: detail from ‘Maintain’ application form