NEW YORK, March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. drug maker Pfizer said Friday it would unveil new data on the benefits of its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor at a heart meeting next week.
The company said the new information regards Lipitor's effects on atherosclerosis, cardiovascular events like heart attacks and stroke, as well as the drug's impact on "health economics."
The data was gleaned from three large imaging studies that compared Pfizer's former investigational compound torcetrapib plus Lipitor, to Lipitor alone.
"Lipitor is the only statin that has been evaluated in well-controlled head-to-head imaging trials," said Michael Berelowitz, senior vice president of Pfizer's global medical division. "In previous imaging trials, intensive therapy with Lipitor resulted in regression or halting of atherosclerosis."
Pfizer said it would also present the results of three outcomes trials evaluating statins in three patient populations, including one that had never been studied before: those who have had a recurrent stroke, but no heart disease.
Pfizer said it would unveil the data at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting set for next week in New Orleans.
