Pfizer said today that it was pulling the plug on advertising that features Robert Jarvik, M.D., promoting the benefit of atorvastatin (Lipitor).
The Pfizer decision was included in a letter to Reps. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Last month, Dingell and Stupak launched an investigation into the ads, which they said misrepresented Dr. Jarvik’s credentials.
Dr. Jarvik is the inventor of an artificial heart that bears his name. He received his M.D. at the University of Utah in 1976, but he never completed a residency and has never been licensed to practice medicine.