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Torcetrapib: Biomarker for the Big Pharma Business Model

As biotechs often live or die on the success of one pipeline project, so too Pfizer finds itself in the same position. Weak drug launches, intense competition in its core cholesterol franchise, and, analysts say, an unimpressive pipeline. Except torcetrapib--perhaps the most important clinical-stage project in the industry. If it fails, Pfizer's in trouble. If it succeeds, Pfizer will have proven that giantism isn't antithetical to growth.

The pharmaceutical world is considering the unthinkable: is Pfizer Inc. vulnerable? Investors have fled the stock; it faces huge patent challenges; its most important franchise—cholesterol-reduction—is facing a concerted challenge from a fast-growing new combination product, simvastatin/ezetimibe (Vytorin) from Schering-Plough Corp. and Merck & Co. Inc. Most of its recent drug launches have sputtered. And analysts don't see many new big drugs in its pipeline.

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