Pfizer

A decision by Pfizer Inc. to halt tests of an experimental cholesterol drug because of increased death rates was a setback likely to provoke closer scrutiny - but not an end to efforts to bring similar medications to market. Pfizer announced plans Saturday to end a large clinical trial of the drug torcetrapib after independent researchers monitoring the tests told company officials of the problem. Torcetrapib was designed to raise levels of HDL, commonly called "good cholesterol." It was supposed to complement statins now on the market that lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol.

The news came to Pfizer's chief scientist, Dr. John L. LaMattina, as he was showering at 7 a.m. on Saturday: The company's most promising experimental drug, intended to treat heart disease, caused an increase in deaths and heart problems. Eighty-two people had died so far in a clinical trial, versus 51 people in the same trial who had not taken it. Within hours, Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, told more than 100 trial investigators to stop giving patients the drug, called torcetrapib.

NEW YORK -- Pfizer Inc. will slash 2,200 U.S. sales jobs as the world's largest drugmaker reduces expenses to compensate for revenue lost to cheaper generic pharmaceuticals. The 20 percent cut in Pfizer's sales staff of 11,000 is an "initial step" growing out of a companywide review of operations announced in October, Pfizer said in a statement yesterday. Pfizer said it would outline additional steps in January. Members of the U.S. sales staff will be notified next month whether they are among those being fired, said Paul Fitzhenry, a Pfizer spokesman.

WASHINGTON -- A senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health exercised his right against self-incrimination yesterday, refusing to answer questions from a congressional subcommittee probing conflicts of interest at the agency. Dr. P. Trey Sunderland III, who remains chief of the geriatric psychology branch at the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health, had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from Pfizer Inc. while collaborating with the company in his official role.

WASHINGTON - Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, said yesterday that it will not advertise new prescription drugs for at least six months and will spend that time informing doctors about the products. The company said it also has retooled its print advertising for consumers to include information about alternative treatments to drugs and more detailed explanations of drug risks, and to promote products such as Viagra, its impotency drug, only on TV programs with predominantly adult, or "age-appropriate," audiences.

You know a consensus is building in the stock market when the pros start parroting the same slogans. This summer's mantra: "Quality is on sale." From Cisco Systems Inc. to Pfizer Inc. to Citigroup Inc. to General Electric Co., large, brand-name growth companies are considered priced to move. Investors are starting to wake to this happy circumstance, having already driven the prices of many of these high-quality companies off their rock-bottom lows. But several market watchers believe there's still time to get in. They predict this may be one of those fundamental market shifts that can last for several years.

LOS ANGELES - There are two groups who seem to indulge in writing memoirs: people who are too young to have lived through very much, and those who have lived so long that they've forgotten much that happened. Jamie Reidy would seem to be from the first pack. He's only 35, and his story, Hard Sell, chronicles his professional adventures for exactly five years, from age 25 to 30. But in his last two years working as a salesman for Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, he was among 119 reps in the urology division charged with marketing a new wonder pill called Viagra.

Faced with patent expirations on highly profitable drugs, big pharmaceutical companies are turning to small biotechs to restock their medicine chests. The latest example came when Pfizer Inc. agreed recently to buy Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $1.9 billion. Vicuron, based in King of Prussia, Pa., worked on antibiotics and drugs for fungal infections, key areas for Pfizer. The acquisition followed one in April by GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which agreed to buy Corixa Corp., a Seattle company focused on vaccines.

Donald Russell LaTona, a retired district manager for Pfizer Inc. and former Ellicott City resident who played one season in the National Football League, died of cancer Monday at his winter home in Hudson, Fla. He was 64. Mr. LaTona was born and raised in Newton, Mass., and played center and middle linebacker on his high school football team. He played football while earning a bachelor's degree in physical education at Boston University, graduating in 1963. He played one season at center for the Minnesota Vikings before taking a position in 1964 as a pharmaceutical salesman for Parke-Davis Co. The company was later acquired by Warner-Lambert and finally Pfizer.

Pfizer takes drug Bextra off marketAs Pfizer Inc. removed the painkiller Bextra from the market yesterday under pressure from the FDA, the government said almost all of the nation's popular anti-inflammatory drugs carry potential risks of heart attack and stroke when used in high doses over long periods. In a sweeping public health advisory, the Food and Drug Administration said it wants manufacturers to include stronger warnings on the packaging of painkillers ranging from staples such as ibuprofen and naproxen to newer drugs such as Celebrex.