Pfizer's Early 1990s Decision to Abandon Promising GLP-1 Therapy Development

Summary

The article reveals previously untold history about early GLP-1 drug development in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The author was part of what they believe was the earliest commercial effort to develop GLP-1 as a metabolic therapy, with promising results. However, Pfizer, the major funder of the work in alliance with California Biotechnology, abandoned the effort around 1991 after mistakenly concluding that the approach wouldn't work. This decision came despite the therapy showing significant promise, highlighting how even potential blockbuster drugs can be prematurely abandoned by pharmaceutical companies.