In one of the slimiest moves ever, Pfizer has gotten a chewable form of their cash-cow drug Lipitor approved for children ten and up in the European Union. The article released by the AP stated that the target audience included, but was not exclusive to, children with a inherited condition known has familial hypercholesterolemia. |
The key line in the piece reads:
“Lipitor is the world’s top-selling drug, with 2009 sales of about $13 billion, but its U.S patent expires at the end of November 2011. Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, will quickly lose most Lipitor revenue once generic competition hits, so the company has been trying to boost sales where possible before then.”
Not surprisingly, there is not one line in the piece about the necessity (or blatant lack thereof) for children to be prescribed Lipitor. There is no line touting the life-saving potential of children being on statin drugs. If there were ever any questions about the motives of Big Pharma, the answers are laid in plain sight here.