Pfizer's Next Problem

Pfizer had a problem???...beyond my chloresterol medication going generic?...

Roche's competitor to Pfizer's much-anticipated "good cholesterol" pill torcetrapib may be more powerful than anyone thought, diluting the potential advantage for Pfizer's most important experimental drug.

Researchers who have seen data on the Roche drug say that it is far more potent when given with food, potentially complicating the gamble Pfizer has made on torcetrapib, which it is spending a record $800 million to develop.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug firm, is desperately in need of new firepower. Its $12 billion cholesterol pill Lipitor, the world's best-selling drug, is under siege from cheap generic copies of rival Zocor and the highly effective branded medicines Crestor and Vytorin. To make matters worse, an appeals court ruling just stripped a year of patent protection from Lipitor, meaning generics of the mega-blockbuster could be available in March 2010.

Torcetrapib is Lipitor's heir apparent. The drug is designed to boost high-density lipoprotein (HDL), nicknamed "good cholesterol" because it appears to actually clear plaque from the arteries and reduce the risk of heart attack.

In clinical studies alongside Lipitor, torcetrapib raised HDL by 60%. If everything goes as planned, a combination pill containing both torcetrapib and Lipitor will hit the market in the first half of 2008, and some analysts forecast 2009 sales of more than $1 billion. In a recent research note, analyst Barbara Ryan of Deutsche Bank called the drug "critical to Pfizer's future cash flows."

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