Merck's Vioxx Prescriptions Total 8,000 After Two Weeks
Bloomberg News
June 14, 1999, 6p.m. ET
Merck's Vioxx Prescriptions Total 8,000 After Two Weeks
Washington, June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co.'s new
arthritis drug Vioxx is off to a slower start than rival Monsanto
Co.'s Celebrex, according to prescription data compiled by IMS
Health Inc., though analysts cautioned it was too early to draw
conclusions from the numbers.
According to data from the week ended June 4, Vioxx has
generated 8,003 prescriptions in its first two weeks on the
market, 1,500 less than the 9,527 prescriptions written for
Celebrex during its first two weeks on the market earlier this
year, IMS said.
Though prescription numbers are being closely watched in an
effort to assess how the two drugs will compete in the $8-billion-
a-year arthritis-painkiller market, Hambrecht & Quist analyst
Alex Zisson said it's premature to compare the two drugs.
''The Merck sales force isn't even out there yet,'' said
Hambrecht & Quist analyst Alex Zisson. ''It takes a couple of
months into a launch into to gauge what the long-term prospects
are.''
Celebrex, co-marketed by Monsanto and Pfizer Inc., had one
of the most successful product introductions in drug history when
the drug hit pharmacies in January, and the drug is on pace to do
well over $1 billion in sales in 1999, a milestone that would
gfoive the drug ''blockbuster'' status. Eventually, analysts say,
Vioxx and Celebrex could each bring in $2 billion a year.
The potential sales for the drugs are seen a boon for both
companies. Celebrex sales drove Monsanto sales in the first
quarter of 1999, and Merck hopes to build Vioxx into a
blockbuster that can offset sales losses for four drugs -- worth
about $5 billion a year -- that will lose patent protection by
2001.
The drugs are members of a new class of painkillers, known
as Cox-2 inhibitors, which as effective as older painkillers like
aspirin or ibuprofen and gentler on the stomach.
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