Pfizer gives up on new cholesterol drug candidate bococizumab

1 November 2016

US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced today that it would drop the global clinical development program for bococizumab, its investigational cholesterol-lowering drug, a proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 inhibitor (PCSK9i).

Sales of bococizumab had been expected to reach $958 million by 2022, according to analysts’ projections. The company’s shares fell 2.37% to $30.96 in pre-market trading but Pfizer also released third-quarter financial results that just missed expectations (see separate story)

The totality of clinical information now available for bococizumab, taken together with the evolving treatment and market landscape for lipid-lowering agents, indicates that bococizumab is not likely to provide value to patients, physicians, or shareholders. As a result, Pfizer has decided to discontinue the development program, including the two ongoing cardiovascular outcome studies, said Pfizer.

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