Dr. Robert Jarvik’s role in Lipitor television commercials has attracted the attention of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who feel that the manner in which the Lipitor ads portray the pioneering cardiac scientist could be misleading consumers.
According to The New York Times, the Jarvik Lipitor campaign was rolled out the same year that Zocor, Lipitor’s chief competitor, became available as a generic drug that is widely considered about as effective as Lipitor but is sold at a fraction of the cost. Lipitor, the world’s single best-selling drug, is Pfizer’s biggest product, generating sales of $12.7 billion last year. The Lipitor Jarvik ads are Pfizer’s attempt to protect its Lipitor market share against cheaper, generically available cholesterol lowering drugs. Pfizer has reportedly paid Dr. Jarvik in excess of $1 million to appear in the ads, and the drug maker has spent a total of $258 million from January 2006 to September 2007 advertising Lipitor. (more…)
