Pfizer’s Lipitor drug no more effective than Zocor admits company

Pfizer has been deprived of an anticipated marketing boost with the news that tests have shown Lipitor to be no more effective at preventing heart disease related death, heart attacks or coronary arrests than competitor Zocor, produced by Merck.

The IDEAL (Incremental Decrease in End Points through Aggressive Lipid Lowering) study, presented at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) annual meeting was not all bad news for Pfizer, with the finding that Lipitor significantly reduced non-fatal heart attacks and strokes and lowered low density LDL-C (‘bad’ cholesterol) significantly more than Zocor.

Nearly 9,000 patients with an average age of 62 who had suffered a previous heart attack were involved in the five year trial. Participants received either the highest possible dose of Lipitor (80mg) or the standard administered doses of Zocor (20mg or 40mg).

Lipitor was the world’s largest selling drug in 2004 with sales of $11 billion (?6.40 billion), and Zocor is its closest competitor, with sales of $5 billion (?2.91 billion). Lipitor sales have seen an unexpected slowdown in the US however, with increases of just one per cent between July and September. From next year it will also be facing new competition as generic versions of Zocor hit the market.

The AHA also heard new data from Pfizer’s phase two trials of a Lipitor and torcetrapib combination. Torcetrapib is also a cholesterol lowering product. The study was show to significantly boost HDL-C (‘good’ cholesterol) and lower LDL-C in a study of almost 500 patients given a 60mg dose of torcetrapib and ten, 20, 40 or 80mg doses of Lipitor.

If it receives approval the Lipitor/torcetrapib combination would follow Caduet, a combined treatment bringing together Lipitor and Pfizer’s popular hypertension medication Istin which was launched last year.

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