PFIZER UPDATES PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF CHOLESTEROL TRIALS

Pfizer has provided an update on the preliminary results of its torcetrapib/atorvastatin clinical trials in connection with the release of an American Heart Association abstract of a Phase III study in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) that shows the drug significantly raising good (HDL) cholesterol (56 percent) and lowering bad (LDL) cholesterol (27 percent) compared with patients taking atorvastatin alone.

The HeFH study also showed patients in the torcetrapib/atorvastatin group experienced an average increase in systolic blood pressure of about 2 millimeters versus patients taking atorvastatin alone.

"Our overall Phase III results to date, which are incomplete and must be rigorously analyzed when all the lipid and imaging trials are finished, also show an average increase in systolic blood pressure of approximately 1 millimeter of mercury above the 2 to 3 millimeter range that was observed in Phase II studies, which we believe will not alter the favorable clinical profile of torcetrapib/atorvastatin in the treatment of cardiovascular disease," Joseph Feczko, Pfizer's chief medical officer, said.