Lipitor advertising misleading over lack of benefits for women.

Supports Chapter One: Trick to Treat

Experts in epidemiology and law claim that in the advertising of the world’s best selling drug, Lipitor (atorvastatin), its manufacturer, Pfizer, failed to disclose the fact that there are no known benefits for women in taking the drug.

They argue that unqualified claims of protection against heart attacks made in advertisements for Lipitor may be misleading and that this advertising raises concerns about the way the US Food and Drug Administration regulates drugs.

The authors, Theodore Eisenberg, a professor of law at Cornell Law School, and Martin Wells, professor of clinical epidemiology at Cornell University Weill Medical College, claim that a substantial portion of the multibillion dollar market in statins may be made up of users for whom the drugs offer no benefit.

They say that women prescribed the Lipitor should be entitled to compensation to recoup the costs of treatment. The same should also apply to other statins, of course, as no study of cholesterol-lowering in women - by any drug - has shown a benefit.

Eisenberg T, Wells MT. Statins and Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Moderate-Risk Females: A Statistical and Legal Analysis with Implications for FDA Preemption Claims. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 2008 Sep 5;5(3):507 - 550 (doi:10.1111/j.1740-1461.2008.00132.x)