Generic Drug For Lipitor

Lipitor (generic name Atrovastatin) is a drug used to lower the cholesterol level of blood in patients with heart disease. The drug was first synthesized in 1985 by Pfizer (the then Parke-Davis-Warner-Lambert Company). Lipitor has become the best-selling drug worldwide with its sales up to $12.9 billion. The drug belongs to the parent class statin, and though there are many other derivatives of statin also available in the market, they could not earn the same performance due to metabolic reaction with certain body enzymes. Lipitor has become the best-selling drugs in the history of the pharmacy but now since Pfizer’s patent is quite near to its expiration (2011), the availability of the generic version of Lipitor would lower Pfizer’s profits significantly.