Pfizer fraud alleged.

PFIZER MISLED CONSUMERS into using its anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor despite the absence of evidence from clinical trials that the drug or others in its class are of any benefit to large segments of the population, according to a consumer class action lawsuit filed against the world's largest drug maker in October.

According to Steve Berman, the lead attorney for the proposed class, Pfizer promoted Lipitor by claiming it prevents heart disease in women and the elderly, even though no clinical test has established such a benefit.

The lawsuit alleges that Pfizer engaged in a massive campaign to convince both doctors and patients that Lipitor is a beneficial treatment for nearly everyone with elevated cholesterol, even though no studies have shown it to be effective for women and those over 65 years of age who do not already have heart disease or diabetes.

Lipitor is in the class of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and it is the best-selling drug in the world, with sales in 2004 of more than $10 billion.

"The idea that lowering cholesterol always reduces the risk of heart disease has become the conventional wisdom, which drug companies like Pfizer have taken great pains to promote," says Dr. John Abramson, clinical instructor of ambulatory care at Harvard Medical School and author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine. "But for women under 65 and people over 65 with no history of heart disease or diabetes, the evidence just isn't there. Millions of women and seniors are spending huge sums to take Lipitor every day despite a lack of proof that it's doing anything beneficial for them, and may actually be harming the elderly."