Pfizer's decision to discuss new data on its experimental cholesterol drug torcetrapib ahead of the American Heart Association's gathering in Chicago has earned the pharma giant a one-way ticket out of town. The AHA told Pfizer to pack up its data on the drug and leave, saying that Pfizer had violated strict rules against giving an advance preview on data scheduled for release at the conference. "Pfizer released the information early, and we need to uphold our policies," an AHA spokeswoman said.
Torcetrapib is one of the biggest drugs in Pfizer's pipeline. Tapped by many as a future blockbuster, Pfizer plans to seek approval for the cholesterol drug next year. But with interest in the drug at a premium, Pfizer decided to release a press statement at the end of October saying that the drug had raised blood pressure among volunteers taking the drug. The drug is expected to take the place of Lipitor before Lipitor loses patent protection. Pfizer is spending more than $800 million testing the drug and now plans to review its progress on November 30.
- here's the AP report on Pfizer's AHA presentation woes