Astra Gets European Approval for Impotence Drug Muse (Update1)
Bloomberg News
December 11, 1998, 9:36 a.m. ET
Astra Gets European Approval for Impotence Drug Muse (Update1)
(Adds analyst's comment in 4th paragraph, more details.)
Stockholm, Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Astra AB, Sweden's No. 1
drugmaker which this week announced plans for a $37.2 billion
merger with the U.K.'s Zeneca Group Plc, said it won European
approval for a new impotence treatment called Muse.
Muse, a pellet that's inserted into the urethra at the head
of the penis, will compete with Pfizer Inc.'s blockbuster oral
impotence drug Viagra, as well as older treatments such as
Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc.'s Caverject, a drug injected by syringe
into the penis.
Analysts said Muse will have a tough time competing against
Viagra, whose sales rocketed after approval last April in the
U.S., generating $411 million in second-quarter revenue. Although
Viagra has been linked to dozens of deaths in people taking other
drugs or with existing health problems, it's easier to use and
thus more desirable in a market that could grow to be worth $4
billion a year as new drugs are launched, analysts said.
''Muse is the kind of thing you would resort to only if you
had a serious problem,'' said Paul Diggle, an analyst with SG
Securities, who forecast Muse annual sales of about $100 million
by 2005. ''I don't think Pfizer is going to get too worried.''
Astra holds exclusive marketing and distribution rights to
Muse in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere from Vivus
Inc., a California biotechnology company that invented the drug.
Astra this week said it agreed to unite with Zeneca, the
U.K.'s No. 3 drugmaker, in a stock-swap merger valued at $37.2
billion, in a move both companies said would boost their product
lines and lead to cost savings.
Analysts say both companies need new products to supplant
the sales loss after patents expire for major drugs like Astra's
antiulcer drug Losec, the world's best-selling prescription drug,
-- sold as Prilosec in the U.S. -- and Zeneca's heart drug
Zestril. Patents for both drugs begin to expire in 2001.
A study in Europe has shown Muse to be effective in 64
percent of men with impotence problems, Astra said.
Other companies, including Zonagen Inc., PowderJect
Pharmaceuticals Plc and MacroChem Corp., are developing new
treatments for impotence.
Astra shares added 2 kronor to 162.5 in Stockholm.
--Dane Hamilton in London (44-171 330 7727) and Jenny Penser in
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