Word: lipitor
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...According to the pharmaceutical market news service Pharmawire, around $114 billion worth of drugs will go off patent in 2008-12, including lucrative brands such as Eisai's Aricept, which treats Alzheimers, and Pfizer's Lipitor, which lowers cholesterol. Some analysts say patent expirations could lead AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline to lose up to one third of their sales...
...nearly two years, millions of Americans have seen television ads featuring artificial heart inventor Robert Jarvik touting the benefits of the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor. No longer. On Monday, Lipitor's maker, Pfizer, decided to pull the $139 million campaign after a Congressional committee raised questions about Jarvik's qualifications as pitchman...
...issue is the fact that Jarvik, while a graduate of medical school, is not licensed to practice medicine, and therefore not legally able to write prescriptions for medications. In the ads, he admits to taking Lipitor himself, and appears to give medical advice as a practicing physician. "We chose ["Dr. Jarvik"] because he is a well respected heart expert, inventor of the Jarvik heart, and we thought it was appropriate because he is well respected in the area of cardiology and vascular research," Vanessa Aristede, director of corporate communications at Pfizer, told TIME. In defending his decision to become...
...Lipitor ads are certainly not the first to rely on stretching the consumer's belief - others have featured actors posing as doctors, or lesser-known doctors endorsing everything from diet aids to nutritional supplements. But Jarvik is recognized for his work in developing the artificial heart, and to a patient, his stature in the field undeniably lends credibility to every statement he makes about Lipitor. It's certainly a big part of the reason that Pfizer signed him to a two-year, $1.35 million contract...
...Lipitor ads are only a lightning rod for a growing concern about how prescription drugs are advertised to the public. While patients cannot purchase the drugs on their own, they can - and do - approach their doctors about certain medications they see touted on television or in magazines. Seeing celebrities or other well-known figures endorsing a drug may make a medication all the more appealing. That's why Representatives John Dingell and Bart Stupak, both of Michigan, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee decided last month to investigate how truthful this celebrity-driven drug advertising is - and hope...