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Pfizer halts diabetes drug
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October 13, 2000: 11:48 a.m. ET
Development of nerve damage drug suspended after failing safety trials
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug company, disclosed Friday that it has halted development of an experimental treatment for nerve damage associated with diabetes, saying the drug did not pass a late-stage safety trial.
The proposed drug, zenarestat, was being tested for treatment of diabetic neuropathy. There are no drugs on the market for the condition in the United States.
The New York-based company said the drug was found to have potential renal toxicity in some of the estimated 3,700 patients participating in Phase III clinical trials worldwide. The drug, however, was found to have a beneficial effect on nerves.
An estimated 30 to 50 percent of the roughly 16 million diabetics in the United States suffer from some form of diabetic neuropathy, a condition that can lead to problems with internal organs such as the digestive tract, heart, and sexual organs. Symptoms include numbness and pain in the hands, feet or legs.
 Separately, the company is continuing to develop an inhaled insulin treatment, which Pfizer plans to submit for regulatory review next year.
Pfizer also makes the blockbuster male impotence drug Viagra and Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering medication.
In early Friday trading, Pfizer (PFE: Research, Estimates) shares slipped $1.38 to $43.25. 
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