PFIZER BEGINS TORCETRAPIB PRODUCTION

Pfizer Inc. said its expanded Loughbeg, Ireland, facility has produced the first batch of a new cholesterol drug that the pharmaceutical company hopes to combine with its best-selling drug Lipitor. Pfizer will use the plant to combine torcetrapib, a compound that raises "good" cholesterol, with Lipitor, which lowers "bad" cholesterol. The plant expansion cost $90 million. Pfizer booked Lipitor sales of $7.7 billion in 2004, making it the world's best-selling prescription drug.

()a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050622/pfizer_torcetrapib.html?.v=1" target="_blank">Yahoo News