Pfizer hardsells pricier doses, lifts Lipitor revenue

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Washington, Aug 23: Pfizer Inc increased second-quarter revenue from its Lipitor cholesterol pill by convincing doctors to prescribe more-expensive doses of the drug, the world’s best- selling prescription medicine.

The number of patients taking the highest doses of Lipitor in June rose by more than 10% compared with May, analysts said. A 10 milligram Lipitor pill costs $2.44, while the 40 mg and 80 mg doses are $3.33 each, or 36% more, said the website Drustore.com.

Selling more of the higher-priced pills helped New York-based Pfizer raise Lipitor revenue last quarter by 2% to $3.1 billion, even though about the same number of patients took the drug.

Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, said it sent thousands of sales representatives to doctors’ offices touting studies showing that higher doses cut the risks of heart attack, stroke and death better than other cholesterol drugs.

“I think that is a very smart and savvy strategy, and there is a good medical rationale behind that,” said Chris Schott, an analyst with Bank of America Securities in New York, in an August 17 telephone interview. Analysts said they didn't expect an increase in Lipitor revenue in the quarter.

Lipitor, with $12.2 billion in 2005 sales, is up against competition from new cholesterol-reducing products, such as Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp’s heavily advertised Vytorin.

Insurance companies and employers are also encouraging doctors and patients to switch to cheaper generic copies of Merck’s cholesterol pill, Zocor, which lost its patent in June.

Pfizer needs to keep Lipitor revenue growing as the drug generated about 40% of Pfizer’s 2005 profits, estimated Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan.

In June, high-dose Lipitor prescriptions rose by about 10%, said John Boris, an analyst with Bear Stearns in New York. Prescriptions fell 10% for the lower dosage, which accounted for about 30% of sales last year, he said. During the week of August 11 prescriptions for the lowest dose fell 0.3% while the highest dose grew by 11.9%, said Chris Shibutani, an analyst with JP Morgan Securities Inc.

“We ought to be encouraging physicians to move their patients to the higher doses,'' Peter Brandt, head of Pfizer’s US drug division, said in a July 20 investor call.

Pfizer has spent more than $1 billion studying Lipitor in more than 400 trials involving 80,000 patients since it came on the market in 1996, said Vanessa Aristide, a Pfizer spokeswoman.