Esperion, Again: Pfizer's First Spin-Out's Familiar Look

The Pfizer Inc. building in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which housed the former Esperion Therapeutics closed its doors more than a year ago as part of a broad corporate restructuring in the wake of Pfizer’s well-publicized torcetrapib disappointment in late 2006. (See "Best Laid Plans: Pfizer’s Torcetrapib Tanks," IN VIVO, December 2006 Also see "Best Laid Plans: Pfizer's Torcetrapib Tanks" - In Vivo, 1 December, 2006..) But in fact Pfizer’s other efforts in raising HDL were already withering —despite the boost from the late-2003 acquisition of Esperion for $1.3 billion, in large part for that company’s good-cholesterol mimetic Apo A-1 Milano (a.k.a. ETC-216). [See Deal] (See "A Recipe for Acquisition: the Esperion Strategy," IN VIVO, January 2004 Also see "A Recipe for Acquisition: the Esperion Strategy" - In Vivo, 1 January, 2004..) Essentially everything that came into Pfizer via Esperion was either shelved from the outset or quietly discontinued before torcetrapib’s demise "for scientific and technical reasons," according to a spokesperson.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise—now that Pfizer is for the first time actively touting an out-partnering strategy—to see Esperion rise again. In early May Esperion Therapeutics Inc. announced it was spinning out of Pfizer with its former CEO Roger Newton, PhD, at the helm once more. Pfizer has retained a minority stake in the company, which raised a $22