Nice try, Pfizer: “High doses of the cholesterol-lowering statin Lipitor did no better than standard, lower doses of the statin Zocor in preventing recurrent heart attacks and heart-related deaths, a new study found.”

This study compared high-dose (80mg) Lipitor with 20mg of Zocor. There was no mortality benefit between the two doses. The real reason behind this study is profit – Zocor is scheduled to go generic next year, and Pfizer wanted a selling point for people to switch to their brand-name only Lipitor.

Strangely, the president of the AHA is calling the non-significance of the results “close enough”:

“The borderline nature of the significance, plus previous studies, really provide substantial evidence that lower LDL should be achieved,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, president of the American Heart Association and a professor of heart medicine at the University of Colorado College of Medicine in Denver. “This is what I call a tiebreaker. It’s not necessarily overwhelming evidence, but it’s close enough, and there’s no real downside.”

Downside is cost. Another academic shielded from the realities of real-world medicine.