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Merck Restarts Cholesterol Race Four Years After Pfizer Failure

Merck & Co. is betting it can succeed where Pfizer Inc. failed, with a new type of drug to combat heart disease by raising good cholesterol levels.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, will report results from an advanced trial of its drug next week, four years after Pfizer abandoned a similar pill linked to heart attacks.

The new treatments could be the biggest advance against heart disease in the two decades since the arrival of statins, a group of drugs led by New York-based Pfizer’s Lipitor. Results showing Merck’s pill doesn’t cause the same side effects that sidelined Pfizer’s good cholesterol pill may propel Merck into a $15 billion annual market, according to Decision Resources.

Merck’s medication “is looking to be a very promising agent,” said Rory Collins, co-director of the University of Oxford’s Clinical Trial Service Unit in England. “Raising good cholesterol could be an enormous public health benefit. But it’s still a big gamble.”

Merck shares declined 21 cents to $34.84 at 10:10 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock increased 4.8 percent in the 12 months before today.

The new drug is in a family of medicines known as CETP inhibitors, designed to boost levels of HDL that flush fat deposits from arteries to the liver to be purged from the body. Statins work by decreasing levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, that clogs arteries and leads to heart attacks.



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-10/merck-restarts-cholesterol-race-four-years-after-pfizer-failure.html