Saturday 15 June 2013

LIPITOR :DRUG THAT MADE HISTORY

PFIZER
Pfizer was founded by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart in 1849, the pharmaceutical company has remained dedicated to discovering and developing new, and better, ways to prevent and treat disease and improve health and wellbeing for people around the world
LIPITOR

LIPITOR is one of the most amazing drugs of history particularly marketed by pfizer and it can surely be kept into the list of drugs that made history.
CHEMICAL STRUCTURE

C33H35FN2O5
CHEMICAL COMPONENTS  Atorvastatin calcium tablets
MECHANISM OF ACTION atorvastatin is a competitive inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase. Unlike most others, however, it is a completely synthetic compound. HMG-CoA reductase catalyzes the reduction of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) to mevalonate, which is the rate-limiting step in hepatic cholesterol biosynthesis. Inhibition of the enzyme decreases de novo cholesterol synthesis, increasing expression of low-density lipoprotein receptors (LDL receptors) on hepatocytes. This increases LDL uptake by the hepatocytes, decreasing the amount of LDL-cholesterol in the blood. Like other statins, atorvastatin also reduces blood levels of triglycerides and slightly increases levels of HDL-cholesterol.
HOW LIPITOR BECAME WORLDS TOP SELLER
As lipitor started it was one of the most of drugs which can not crack the patent test in first effort . in 1997 it came into market time was with other blockbuster drugs of that time and it was the part of huge no of cholesterol lowering drugs . it was the fifth drug in a class called statins that lower LDL or bad cholesterol. The class already included three blockbusters, drugs with sales of $1 billion a year or more and this type of competition for a latecomer is too much hard to handle.
1996 study showed Lipitor reduced bad cholesterol dramatically more than the other statins. this marked the turning point in the sales of drug  A striking graph of those results helped Lipitor sales representatives turn it into the world's best-selling drug ever, with more than $125 billion in sales over 14 1/2 years. nicknamed "turbostatin," Lipitor became the top-selling statin barely three years after it was launched. It's provided 20 percent to 25 percent of Pfizer Inc.'s annual revenue for years. 
FDAs HELPING HANDS TO THE SALES OF LIPITOR
Pfizer benefited from some lucky timing: Lipitor went on sale in 1997, the year the Food and Drug Administration first allowed drug ads targeting consumers. So Pfizer spent tens of millions on ads, including on the popular drama "ER," first urging patients to "Know Your Numbers" and then showing patients discussing how Lipitor helped them get their cholesterol numbers below guideline goals. Meanwhile, health groups kept lowering the cholesterol targets in national guidelines, making millions more patients good candidates for statin treatment, as new research showed the link between cholesterol levels and consequences such as heart attacks. All those new patients boosted sales for the whole statin class, particularly Lipitor.The Lipitor promotion team set new standards for a marketing campaign. They repeatedly visited family doctors as well as cardiologists, and blanketed patients with data showing that Lipitor was best at lowering cholesterol. They stressed to doctors nervous about safety that Lipitor's lowest dose worked as well as rivals' highest doses. They gave free samples of the white pills and sometimes bought lunch for the office staff.
RESOURCES

  1. WIKIPEDIA
  2. US TODAY
  3. PFIZER 


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