Pfizer Is Urged to Split Its Cholesterol Drugs
Pfizer Inc. may limit patient choices by developing its newest cholesterol drug only in combination with its bestselling Lipitor product, according to an article in a leading medical journal.
Pfizer is developing a pill that lowers LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, and raises HDL, the “good” cholesterol, by combining Lipitor with its experimental torcetrapib compound.
Harvard University researcher Jerry Avorn said in today’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine that Pfizer should develop torcetrapib as a stand-alone drug so patients could take it with any cholesterol medicine.
Lipitor, which loses U.S. patent protection in 2010, generated almost $11 billion in sales for New York-based Pfizer last year and was the top-selling drug in the world. A combination of Lipitor, one of a class of cholesterol treatments known as statins, with torcetrapib may generate as much as $15 billion in annual sales, according to Lehman Bros. analyst Tony Butler.
“Patients who cannot tolerate (or afford) Lipitor will have no way of obtaining torcetrapib for use with another statin that may be better for them,” Avorn said in his article. “Physicians who want to raise a patient’s level of HDL cholesterol, but who do not want to be forced to use Lipitor, will not have access to torcetrapib.”
Pfizer said it was spending $800 million to study the Lipitor-torcetrapib combination in 25,000 patients worldwide. In a statement Wednesday, the company said it would be “inefficient, extraordinarily expensive and would take years of additional research to conduct studies that combine torcetrapib with other” cholesterol drugs.
“Torcetrapib ultimately seeks to lower cardiovascular risk, which affects millions of people worldwide,” said John LaMattina, head of Pfizer’s research and development, in the statement. “Given this large potential impact, Pfizer has a responsibility to develop torcetrapib in a way that lowers the risk of failure or delay so that this new medicine reaches patients in need.”
Shares of Pfizer rose 18 cents Wednesday to $28.79.
