Last week, Lipitor was found to be no better than other cholesterol drug on the market, and may have worse side effects to boot. This probably came as no surprise to Community Catalyst, a health care advocacy group that filed a large class-action lawsuit against drugmaker Pfizer yesterday in a Boston court.
Community Catalyst's complaint: Pfizer lied to women and seniors about Lipitor's ability to reduce their risk of a heart attack. Additionally, many patients took Lipitor "even though no studies have shown it to be effective for those women over 65 years of age who do not already have heart disease or diabetes," according to the group.
Lipitor certainly earned a ton a of money last year -- some $11 BILLION -- despite a lack of proof it actually helps patients, so you can understand why Pfizer will fight tooth-and-nail to protect its cash cow.
This lawsuit comes on the heels of another wrong-headed decision by the FDA to approve Lipitor for wider use to reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack for diabetics. Unbelievable...
Lipitor is one of the best drugs on the market -- from Pfizer's perspective. Marketed brilliantly by Pfizer, you'll pay thousands of dollars a year to them for the rest of your life for useless drugs like Lipitor until you die prematurely from their side effects.
Meanwhile, if you're taking a worthless statin drug and want to learn more about safer alternatives, I urge you to review the articles I've collected on my statins resource page.
Community Catalyst.org
Boston Herald September 29, 2005
USA Today September 28, 2005