Why did Pfizer discontinue Vyndaqel, and why has the move raised questions?
Vyndaqel was due to lose patent protection in 2028; Vyndamax is protected to 2035. Moving patients to the better-protected formulation before generics arrive — what critics call "product hopping" — means Vyndaqel use may be minimal by the time its generics arrive.
In August 2025 Pfizer said it would discontinue Vyndaqel in the US at the end of 2025 and move patients to Vyndamax. The two contain the same active ingredient: Vyndaqel is four daily capsules of tafamidis meglumine, Vyndamax a single daily capsule. Pfizer said the change improves convenience and was made in consultation with experts and patient advocates, and insurers such as UnitedHealthcare told Medicare members they needed new prescriptions for Vyndamax. The timing drew attention because the two formulations have different patent protection. Vyndaqel was due to lose protection in 2028, while Vyndamax is covered by a patent on a specific crystalline form that runs to 2035. A patent analysis noted that this crystalline-form patent is not listed for Vyndaqel, so generic Vyndaqel could have arrived earlier and, if doctors treated the two as interchangeable, eroded both. Jefferies analysts observed that by the time Vyndaqel generics enter the market, clinical use of the Vyndaqel formulation may already be minimal. Moving patients to a newer, better-protected version before generics arrive is what critics call "product hopping". No regulator has found Pfizer's decision anticompetitive, and Vyndaqel accounted for fewer than 20% of tafamidis prescriptions when the change was announced.