All GLG News Analyses Filed Under: Endocrinology

Implications: We can learn from the failure of torcetrapib in clinical trials. Drug development is risky and unpredictable, and we need to temper our enthusiasm over news that emerges during this process. Hypertension remains an important risk factor for heart disease and requires a renewed commitment...

Effects of the drug on BP have been known for some time now. Though it seemed that the drug was destined to come to market, we have seen similar problems that were minimized by other drug manufacturers and were quite detrimental to patients and the drug company. Better now than after post marketing...

Pfizer extolled the benefits of Torcetrapib at their investor day on 12/1/06.On 12/2/06, they received a call from the DSMB requesting the trials be halted for excess deaths and adverse cardiovascular events.This abrupt turnaround was unexpected and essentially ends the development of this promising...

I wrote on 11/10/06 that "...A clinical trial demonstrating that torcetrapib (in combination with atorvastatin) does increase HDL levels is a first step. Can we imagine, though, that this effect might not have the expected result on coronary artery events? The cardiovascular literature is full of examples...

The key is in the degree to which blood pressure is raised.

There is an epidemic of obesity and metabolic syndrome in this country.Many of these patients also have diabetes and are extremely difficult to treat medically.Rimonabant (Acomplia) is an endocannabinoid receptor antagonist which works centrally to decrease appetite and has been shown to lead to significant...

Torcetrapib is a novel CETP (Cholesterol ester transfer protein) inhibitor that has been shown in phase II trials to significantly elevate HDL-cholesterol levels in patients with low HDL.Low HDL has been proven to be an independent cardiovascular risk factor regardless of the LDL levels.There is no...

High levels of LDL-C and low levels of HDL-C are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Statins have been shown to reliably reduce LDL-C levels and reduce cardiovascular events, but they have minimal impact on HDL-C levels. HDL cholesterol is felt to have a cardioprotective effect.Torcetrapib...

Torcetrapib is an inhibitor of cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) which can elevate HDL-C levels in excess of 50% in patients with low levels of HDL-C.It seems to be even more effective at raising HDL-C levels and lowering LDL-C levels when combined with atorvastatin.There are few significant...

In a recent study in 1432 patients with chronic kidney disease, correction of hemoglobin to 13.5 mg/dl with erythropoietin compared to a target of 11.3 mg/dl was associated with a 34% increase in risk of death and cardiac problems. Death rates of Americans on dialysis is higher than those patients in...