Middle aged drug cholesterol drug approved for children.
Could there be a more depressing symbol of our failure to combat childhood obesity than the news this week that the European Union has approved a formulation of Lipitor, Pfizer’s blockbuster cholesterol drug, for children 10 and over? Well, maybe this. It was already approved for children in the U.S. way back in 2002.
The expansion is aimed at children with high levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides, which is unfortunately a growth market worldwide. Reducing cholesterol levels is key to preventing heart disease and diabetes in this population.
Better nutrition and less-sedentary lifestyles could do the same thing, of course, but that’s no easy task -- and there are few financial incentives for anyone to make it happen.
Conversely, there’s lots of money in treating the diseases that result from junk food and inaction. Expanding Lipitor’s indication to include children extends the company’s European patent protection for another six months. For blockbuster drugs like Lipitor, that could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue before the patent expires in late 2011.
Who says the free market doesn’t work in health care?
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