Merck: We're staying in heart disease research

Merck, which debuted its first cardiac drug 50 years ago and currently has eight experimental drugs in human testing, made the announcement to coincide with the start of the American Heart Association's annual conference, running in New Orleans from Saturday through Wednesday.

"I think we have a legacy, a responsibility and an opportunity" in cardiovascular research, Dr. Richard Pasternak, head of cardiovascular clinical research, told The Associated Press. "Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death and disability worldwide."

Since the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company's 1958 launch of Diural, a diuretic blood pressure drug that was the first without serius side effects, Merck has produced nearly 30 other cardiovascular medicines, some the first in their class.

The company currently makes roughly $7 billion of its $24 billion in annual revenue from the blood pressure drugs Cozaar, Hyzaar and Vasotec and its cholesterol drugs Vytorin, Zetia and Zocor.

The most important of Merck's heart drugs, according to Pasternak, was Mevacor, the first cholesterol-lowering statin drug when it came on the market in the 1980s.

"It opened up a brand new era," Pasternak said.

In fact, cholesterol drugs are the top-selling category in this country, and the world's No. 1 drug by sales is rival Pfizer Inc.'s cholesterol fighter Lipitor.

But Pfizer, which faces generic competition to Lipitor in a few years and has not been able to come up with a next-generation version, last month said it will do no more research in heart disease, other than on drugs already in late-stage testing.

"It's disappointing that the people we have turned to for innovation ... are now getting out of the (heart) business," said Dr. Howard Weintraub, head of NYU Langone Medical Center's cardiovascular disease prevention center. "It could mean less innovation."