Pfizer surprises industry by ending development of projected blockbuster
pharmafile | November 1, 2016 | News story | Research and Development | Pfizer, cholesterol, clinical trials
Pfizer announced the news that it would no longer be developing an experimental cholesterol lowering drug. The drug had been expected to reach sales of $958 million by 2022, according to predictions. The news was released alongside financials that showed the company had missed profit projections.
The drug in question is bococizumab. The drug was administered by injection and had been identified as a potential treatment for lowering cholesterol in those with genetically high cholesterol levels and at risk of suffering heart problems. Pfizer had released positive data from two Phase III trials as recently as June, which had both met their primary endpoints. This is a major part of the reason that the news took the industry by surprise, contributing to a small fall in the share price of Pfizer.
The reasons given by Pfizer for the halt in the development of the drug were that they had observed a lowering of its efficacy over time, as well side-effects that included higher level of immunogenicity and higher rate of injection-site reactions. Pfizer announced in their statement that they would make the study results available for study by independence analysts. Beyond this, they released the below statement:
“As a company, we understand that developing new and important medicines for patients is a critical, but difficult undertaking. Accordingly, we continually evaluate our development programs as data emerge to support prudent decisions that provide value both to the patients we serve and our shareholders,” said James Rusnak, chief development officer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, at Pfizer. “We are disappointed by this outcome, but remain committed to investing in innovation, concentrating our pipeline on areas where we can bring transformational therapies to address unmet needs, including in patients with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. We thank the investigators, their patients, and support staff who have participated in this important research program.”
Ben Hargreaves
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