Dow Jones Newswires -- November 7, 1997
Vivus Down 7% Following Report Of Patient Death
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of Vivus Inc. (VVUS) fell nearly 7% after short-sellers circulated its letter informing the Food and Drug Administration of the death of a 79-year-old man who had been using the company's Muse 1000 system for impotence.
The patient, who died Oct. 6 of an apparent heart attack, failed to inform his physician of a stroke he had suffered a month earlier, said Nina Ferrari, Vivus' director of investor relations.
If the doctor had known of the stroke, he would have advised the patient to stop using the Muse system because of the need to moderate his physical activity, she said.
The company believes the death was caused not by the drug but by the combination of the man's age, medical condition and physical exertion after using the Muse, Ferrari said. Of the more than 500,000 men who have used the system, she noted, the patient was the first to die after using it.
The patient was part of a long-term post-marketing safety study for the Muse, which the FDA approved in December 1996, she said. He had used the system more than 200 times since December 1993 without any complications, she added.
The Muse uses a plastic applicator to deliver the impotence drug alprostadil into the urethra.
Vivus' shares fell 1 3/4, or 7.6%, to 21 3/8 on volume of 1.6 million. Average daily volume is 1.4 million.
-By Louis Hau; 201-938-5240
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