Pfizer's drug chief opened up his playbook yesterday at a San Francisco investment conference. Ian Read, president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations, confided worries about its top seller, Lipitor [1], which posted fewer new patient starts than anticipated recently. To turn that around, Pfizer is flogging new data on the drug--namely a study it sponsored that showed patients switching from Lipitor to generic Zocor had a 30 percent greater risk of heart attack, stroke, or death.
Exubera has the company worried, too, and for good reason. The diabetes drug was supposed to be a best-seller [2], but it has delivered only $4 million in sales so far. Pfizer has dispatched "diabetes educators" to buttonhole doctors and explain how to use the drug.
- read this CNBC article [3]
Related Articles:
Pfizer's future rests with biotech. Report [4]
Pfizer goes public with R&D pipeline. Report [5]
Troubled Pfizer blueprints biotech venture effort. Report [6]
Exubera becoming a big disappointment for Pfizer. Report [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/spotlight-generic-battle-looms-for-lipitor/2005-10-17?utm_source=related&utm_medium=internal
[2] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/exubera-becoming-a-big-disappointment-for-pfizer/2007-04-10
[3] http://www.cnbc.com/id/20875693/for/cnbc/
[4] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/pfizers-future-rests-biotech/2007-09-13?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss
[5] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/pfizer-goes-public-r-d-pipeline/2007-08-07
[6] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/troubled-pfizer-blueprints-biotech-venture-effort/2007-08-02