A health care-industry analyst said Tuesday that Pfizer Inc.'s local employees may have dodged a bullet when the company announced a consolidation of its New London operations into the Groton campus, but that doesn't mean scientists' jobs are safe.

"This is probably not the last time that Pfizer cuts positions," said Les Funtleyder, healthcare strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in New York.

Pfizer announced this week that the company would exit its former worldwide research-and-development headquarters in New London within the next two years. But Pfizer said a local work force numbering about 5,000 would be left virtually unchanged as 1,400 New London workers are expected to move to new or revamped quarters at a sister campus in Groton.

"We expect the vast majority of colleagues in New London will move their offices to the Groton Research Campus," Pfizer spokeswoman Liz Power said in an e-mail response to questions Tuesday. "There will be some positions (throughout the company) that will be eliminated due to the overall consolidation of the research network and integration of Pfizer and Wyeth.

"That said, we expect to maintain a significant presence in southeastern Connecticut."

Funtleyder said Pfizer, which acquired New Jersey-based Wyeth Pharmaceuticals last month for $67 billion, is likely to take a wait-and-see attitude toward further R&D job cuts as it continues a consolidation related to the merger.

But the consolidation itself is likely to create a lot of job churn locally as Pfizer hand-picks scientists from sites it is planning to close or downsize and then moves them to Groton, Funtleyder said. These "favorite sons," as he calls them, would likely replace scientists working locally, creating angst among R&D staff over job security.

"You're probably going to see some new faces around Groton," he said. "I have a question for management: How do you keep your R&D staff productive when they are concerned about their employment?

"I don't think there's a good answer to that," he added. "Productivity will probably decline."

Pfizer had few additional details about the consolidation process when presented with specific questions Tuesday. It is unclear whether New London workers will be shifted to the Groton campus as space becomes available, or whether the switch would be accomplished in one sudden move.

Pfizer did say, however, that the New London staff will be moved into office space rather than be integrated into current Groton laboratories.

"The Groton Research Campus will be the center of our PharmaTherapeutics R&D operation," Power said. "In addition, we are upgrading the Groton Research Campus to ensure that it continues to be conducive to discovery and development of new medicines."

Funtleyder said drug discovery is exactly what's required to stop job losses at Pfizer, the New York-based pharmaceutical giant where cuts are expected to reach about 30,000 over a four-year period.

"The name of the game is getting good products to market," he said. "They really do have to get the R&D process running, and that's easier to say than to do."

Pfizer has an Alzheimer's drug called Dimebon that looks promising, as well as a JAK-3 inhibitor for rheumatoid arthritis, but each is a year or two away from reaching the market.

"All it takes is one of the drugs to do well," Funtleyder said, though he admitted there is no product on the table that is likely to overtake the selling power of Lipitor, the world's leading medicine, which goes off patent at the end of 2011.

As for Pfizer's decision to drop its nearly $300 million former R&D headquarters as part of the company's network of research sites, Funtleyder saw it as a strictly business decision.

"They don't think they can get a return on their investment," he said. "They figured the best thing to do is cut their losses."

Peter Levine, whose Amber Properties owns an office complex on Howard Street that Pfizer vacated earlier this year, called the pharmaceutical giant's decision to abandon New London disappointing - but certainly understandable in the current economic environment.

He called the Pfizer site a "unique asset," though he said it's probably "worth a lot less than anyone thinks."

Still, he said, "I'm cautiously optimistic that over time there will be a use for that property. ... The parcel is much better than it was 15 years ago (before Pfizer bought it), and it will have another life."