{"id":1233,"date":"2006-12-03T11:36:05","date_gmt":"2006-12-03T16:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/pfailed\/"},"modified":"2006-12-03T11:36:39","modified_gmt":"2006-12-03T16:36:39","slug":"pfailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/pfailed","title":{"rendered":"Pfailed"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a difference two days make. On Nov. 30, Pfizer gave an “R&D open house” event where it discussed its drug pipeline. The biggest drug in that pipeline is torcetrapib, a compound that raises “good” cholesterol. For years, Pfizer’s been developing it as a combo-drug with Lipitor (atorvastatin), which reduces “bad” cholesterol.<\/p>\n

Prior to the meeting, Pfizer issued a press statement<\/a> that included this passage about torcetrapib:<\/p>\n

Commenting on torcetrapib\/atorvastatin (T\/A), Dr. LaMattina said, “We are first-in-class and we intend to remain best-in-class in a category that has the potential to change the face of cardiovascular medicine. T\/A raises HDL and lowers LDL. We believe that the net benefits of the drug — characterized by significant HDL elevation and LDL lowering vs. the small elevation in blood pressure — will greatly benefit patients with CV risk.<\/p>\n

“The development of T\/A has required tremendous innovation on our part from the earliest stages of discovery through one of the most cutting-edge development programs ever carried out anywhere. At the end of this comprehensive program, we expect to have a medicine with unparalleled efficacy in raising HDL, lowering LDL and with an anti-atherosclerosis indication.<\/p>\n

“We will learn of the top-line results of the three pivotal imaging trials during the first quarter of 2007. During this same period, we will also receive the results of some additional Phase III lipid studies. To obtain a reliable picture of the overall safety and efficacy profile of T\/A, the results of all these studies will need to be analyzed and reviewed together, and this will happen in the context of the American College of Cardiology Meeting in March, 2007.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yesterday, Pfizer announced that its independent Drug Safety Monitoring Board discovered a significantly higher mortality rate in the torcetrapib wing of late-stage clinical trials<\/a>. The results must have been overwhelming, because Pfizer said that it’s stopping the trials, canceling all development of the drug, and accelerating its restructuring plans. A few days earlier, the company announced that it would lay off 2,400 sales reps, as part of its reorganization. Torcetrapib’s failure means large numbers of people will be getting fired in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

If you follow the pharma industry, you already understand what a cataclysmic event this is for Pfizer. I don’t think it’s on the scale of a Vioxx, because there’s likely no legal liability issues, but the lost sales will be in the tens of billions. Beyond that, there’s the opportunity cost of the R&D that was performed on the product, as well as nearly $800 million in actual development costs.<\/p>\n

I’m not trying to convey a “poor little Pfizer” impression here; I disagree with a bunch of the company’s practices (particularly its growth-by-acquisition model from the first half of this decade). What I’m trying to get across is that developing new drugs is a mighty risky proposition. I’m not sure that people who complain, “Drugs are too expensive; pharma companies are evil,” have much idea about the risks and the costs these companies incur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a difference two days make. On Nov. 30, Pfizer gave an “R&D open house” event where it discussed its drug pipeline. The biggest drug in that pipeline is torcetrapib, a compound that raises “good” cholesterol. For years, Pfizer’s been developing it as a combo-drug with Lipitor (atorvastatin), which reduces “bad” cholesterol. Prior to the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Pfailed”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-pharmaceuticals","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4C7K-pfailed","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/drug-deal","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":0},"title":"Drug Deal","author":"Gil","date":"April 28, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm on a press trip in Puerto Rico this week, as mentioned earlier, and it's been sorta tough to get any blogging done. The perfect sunlight tends to, um, make too much glare on the laptop's screen. Yeah, that's it.Anyway, this morning, before heading out to the beach from my\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3689,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/too-big-to-fail","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":1},"title":"Too Big To Fail?","author":"Gil","date":"March 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's my From the Editor column from the March issue of my magazine. Enjoy: Too Big To Fail? The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a deepening productivity crisis. The industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s preferred escape mechanism from this predicament has been to increase investment in current business activities \u00e2\u20ac\u201d primarily R&D and sales \u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1539,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/utilitarianism","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":2},"title":"Utilitarianism","author":"Gil","date":"June 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Every summer, when we get rolling on the annual Top 20 Pharma \/ Top 10 Biopharma report, my trusty associate editor compiles pipeline information for the past year. While I suss out sales figures and try to parse the arcana of accounting, she puts together lists of new drugs that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":534,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/blood-tar-and-coffee-grounds","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":3},"title":"Blood, Tar and Coffee Grounds","author":"Gil","date":"April 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"In my secret identity, I'm the mild-mannered (okay, angry and abrasive) editor of a pharmaceutical business magazine. The big news in the biz this week was that the FDA \"recommended\" that Pfizer stop selling Bextra, a Cox-2 inhibiting anti-inflammatory in the same class of drugs as Vioxx and Celebrex. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2077,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/bottoms-up","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":4},"title":"Bottoms up","author":"Gil","date":"May 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry I didn't post earlier in the day, dear readers. I was just building up my courage for the plunge into our annual Top Companies Report, where I profile the top 20 pharma companies and top 10 biopharmas. I just have to tell myself, \"Come July 2, it'll all be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FI73MA","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1047,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/todays-post-is-brought-to-you-by-the-letters-r-and-d","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":5},"title":"Today’s post is brought to you by the letters R and D","author":"Gil","date":"July 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"BusinessWeek has an essay about the lack of innovation at the major telephone companies (yet another installment in the \"I care about this stuff; no reason for you to\" series). Mind-blowing quote: One way in which these companies are very different from the old phone monopoly is that while the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}