Page "Pfizer" Paragraph 11

Development of torcetrapib, a drug that increases production of HDL, or " good cholesterol ", which reduces LDL thought to be correlated to heart disease, was cancelled in December 2006.

During a Phase III clinical trial involving 15, 000 patients there were more deaths than expected in the group that took the medicine, and a 60 % increase in deaths was seen among patients taking torcetrapib plus Lipitor versus Lipitor alone.

There was no suggestion these results called into question the safety of Lipitor.

Pfizer lost nearly $ 1 billion invested developing the failed drug, and the market value of the company plummeted in the aftermath.