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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Pfizer Shuts Down Cholesterol Drug Development
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The world's largest drugmaker has shut down development of its star cholesterol drug because of an unexpected number of deaths and cardiovascular problems in patients who used it.
Pfizer Inc. announced that an independent board monitoring a study for torcetrapib, a drug that raises levels of good cholesterol, HDL, recommended Saturday that the trial end because of "an imbalance of mortality and cardiovascular events," the Associated Press reported.
Pfizer said it has asked that all clinical investigators conducting trials warn patients to stop taking the drug immediately.
According to Pfizer spokesman Paul Fitzhenry, in a trial of 15,000 patients, 82 of those taking the combination of torcetrapib and Lipitor had died, compared to 51 deaths among those taking only Lipitor alone. Pfizer said that the study didn't raise any questions about Lipitor's safety.
There had been concerns about torcetrapib, which was designed to be taken with a statin like Lipitor, because a recent study showed it triggered a slight increase in blood pressure.
But only two days ago, Pfizer had announced its intention to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration for approval of torcetrapib by the second half of next year.
The company had expected to sell torcetrapib in combination with Lipitor, which lowers bad cholesterol and is the company's -- and the world's -- best-selling drug.
Dr. Philip Barter, chairman of the steering committee overseeing the study, said in Pfizer's news release that the findings were a surprise "in light of prior study results," the AP reported.
"We believed that the study was coming along as expected, and this new information was totally unexpected and disappointing, given the potential benefits of this drug," said Barter, director of the Heart Research Institute in Australia.
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