Sunday, November 12, 2006

Pfizer's pre-emptive strike upsets AHA

Pfizer scientists won't be allowed to present new data on its "good" HDL increaser torcetrapib at the American Heart Association's annual scientific meeting next week.

The AHA said that Pfizer had broken the organization's rules by discussing the results ahead of their presentation.

"Pfizer released the information early, and we need to uphold our policies," an AHA spokeswoman said Friday afternoon.

On Oct. 30, Pfizer issued a news release saying that torcetrapib raised systolic blood pressure an average of three to four millimeters of mercury, according to a new analysis of clinical studies of the medicine. Earlier Pfizer studies indicated an average increase of two to three millimeters.

A Pfizer spokesman said the company issued the release last month because of the high level of interest among doctors and investors. The results were to have been presented at the AHA meeting in Chicago on Wednesday.

He said Pfizer would abide by the AHA's decision and that company scientists will present the data instead during a review of the company's research and development pipeline on Nov. 30.

Source

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