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Pfizer Halts Clinical Trials of Cholesterol Medication

Thu drug manufacturing giant, Pfizer announced Saturday it will stop clinical trials and development of its experimental cholesterol fighting medication, which was supposed to be the company`s new star drug, due to a number of unexpected deaths and heart problems of patients, who used the drug. This is very bad news for Pfizer, which was hoping the new drug would lead to a recovery in the company`s sales, which have been hurt by the expiration of several of the company`s key medications. Pfizer disclosed in the past that it was investing $800 million in the development of the cholesterol fighting drug called Torcetrapib.

The world`s largest drug manufacturer said the decision was due to an independent committee`s recommendation to stop the research due to "an imbalance of mortality and cardiovascular events." The drug was supposed to raise the level of HDL, better know as "good cholesterol". A spokesman for the company said that 82 patients who took the drug died, as apposed to only 51 deaths in the group who took Lipitor. Each group had 7,500 participants. Pfizer said the study did not raise questions about the Lipitor` safety, which is currently the most sold medication in the world.

Only 3 days ago, Pfizer said that it intends to file for authorization of Torcetrapib with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), towards the second half of 2007. But although Pfizer lost this drug, it still expects to return to growing sales by 2009. Last week Pfizer announced that it intends to let go of 20% of its sales personnel in the US, some 2,200 employees, in a move expected to save the company $500 million annually. The company said that it still has 242 research programs in various stages of development, and many more promising drugs on their way.