Pfizer Cancels Lipitor Ads

Media Campaign May Be Misleading, Lawmakers Say

Pfizer is canceling advertisements for the cholesterol pill Lipitor featuring Robert Jarvik, the inventor of an artificial heart, as Congress is investigating whether the commercials are misleading.

Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, is "committing to ensuring greater clarity in the roles and responsibilities of its spokespeople in consumer advertising and promotion," the New York-based company said yesterday in a statement. Lipitor is the world's best-selling medicine with $12.7 billion in 2007 sales.

Congress began probing the ads in January because Jarvik, who appears to be acting as a doctor giving medical advice, isn't licensed to practice medicine, said Reps. John D. Dingell and Bart Stupak, both Michigan Democrats. Pfizer spent as much as $139 million on the Jarvik ad campaign through October, making Lipitor the fifth-most-advertised drug, according to market research firm Nielsen Monitor Plus.

In the advertisement, Jarvik, a Manhattan executive, touts the drug's ability to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients at risk for heart disease. He also says he takes Lipitor. Pfizer said all of the information in the commercial is accurate.

Jarvik, who is president of closely held Jarvik Heart Inc. and helped invent the first permanent total artificial heart, is a physician who doesn't practice clinical medicine, he said in a Jan. 14 statement on his company's Web site. His background is as an inventor.

"The way in which we presented Dr. Jarvik in these ads has, unfortunately, led to misimpressions and distractions from our primary goal of encouraging patient and physician dialogue on the leading cause of death in the world -- cardiovascular disease," Pfizer said in a statement.

Pfizer said it will start a new Lipitor ad campaign in "several weeks." Lipitor generates as much as 40 percent of the company's profit.

Pfizer has been struggling to increase sales of Lipitor after cheaper copies of a similar acting drug, Merck's Zocor, came on the market in 2006. Sales of Lipitor fell 1.6 percent last year.

"Obviously they have taken some criticism and heat on that Jarvik ad recently, and stopping it is probably a prudent response," said Barbara Ryan, an analyst with Deutsche Bank. "The ads are designed to improve credibility, and when that is disputed, it's probably best to rethink your marketing strategy."

Jarvik invented the first mechanical heart designed as a permanent replacement in the 1970s. His latest device, the Jarvik 2000, doesn't have full Food and Drug Administration approval. It has been used in 200 patients and is approved in the United States for permanent use in patients ineligible for a transplant and as a temporary measure for those awaiting transplants.

"I accepted the role of spokesman for Lipitor because I am dedicated to the battle against heart disease, which killed my father at age 62 and motivated me to become a medical doctor," Jarvik said in the statement. "I am not a celebrity. I am a medical scientist specializing in advanced technology to treat heart failure who understands that no one in his or her right mind would want an artificial heart if it could be avoided with preventive medicine."