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Merck to Add 700 Sales Reps, Seek Expanded Zocor Use (Update2)
Bloomberg News
December 9, 1998, 12:42 p.m. ET
Merck to Add 700 Sales Reps, Seek Expanded Zocor Use (Update2)
(Adds that Merck will present this afternoon on research
programs in 7th through 9th paragraphs, comment from chairman in
9th and 10th paragraphs. )
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Merck
& Co., the world's biggest drugmaker, said it will add about 700
new sales representatives in the U.S. next year, expanding its
current sales force of about 4,000 by 17.5 percent.
The maker of the cholesterol-reducer Zocor and anti-baldness
pill Propecia reviewed other steps it is taking to boosts its
sales at an analysts' meeting. Merck also is seeking to add new
benefits to the label for Zocor, its top-selling product with
more than $3 billion in 1997 sales.
Merck has been facing increased competition for Zocor sales
in the past year from Warner-Lambert Co.'s similar drug Lipitor,
which Pfizer Inc. helps market. Merck said it is seeking U.S.
Food and Drug Administration approval to cite Zocor's ability to
boost levels of HDL, the ''good cholesterol,'' in some patients.
''Pfizer and Warner-Lambert are formidable competitors,''
said Viren Mehta, an analyst with Mehta Partners, which has a
''buy'' rating on Merck. ''Merck is going to use every
opportunity it can'' to try to boost Zocor sales.
Merck said its mid-October filing was based on studies in
which HDL rose about 13 percent to 16 percent for certain Zocor
patients. Zocor sales rose 10 percent to $990 million while sales
of Lipitor, introduced in 1997, more than doubled to $569
million.
Merck rose 5/16 to 159 in midday trading. The company,
based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, earlier touched a record
high of 160 1/4.
Later this afternoon, Edward Scolnick, president of Merck
Research Laboratories, will give an update on the company's next
potential blockbuster, the painkiller Vioxx. He also will speak
on some of Merck's current projects in development. Scolnick
leads a research program often considered the best in the drug
industry.
Still, rival Monsanto Co. could win FDA approval within a
month of a painkiller, Celebrex, similar to Merck's Vioxx.
Merck is at least several months behind Monsanto in the race to
introduce the first of a new class of painkillers, the Cox-2
drugs. These appear to treat pain and swelling without the side
effects of existing painkillers, which can cause stomach
bleeding. Vioxx and Celebrex are each expected to have annual
sales of more than $1 billion.
Vioxx ''will be an important contributor'' to boosting
Merck's profit, said the company' chief executive, president and
chairman, Raymond Gilmartin, in comments this morning at the
meeting.
''We strive for long-term earnings-per-share growth in the
top quartile of our peer group, which is made up of 12 large-cap,
multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Lilly and
Glaxo Wellcome,'' Gilmartin said.
Gilmartin did not comment directly on analysts' estimates in
his speech. Chief executives often do address how ''comfortable''
they are with current estimates of how much profit their
companies will earn at these kinds of meetings. Gilmartin will
speak again later today.
--Kerry Dooley in Whitehouse Station through the Washington |
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