ALL: Reuters:(PFE)-Viagra official sales in 1st week huge - analysts
By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - An astounding 36,263 new
prescriptions were written for Pfizer Inc.'s <PFE.N> impotence
drug Viagra during its first week on the market, analysts said,
quoting sales data from auditing service IMS America.
The new IMS prescription data, which far exceed usual
first-week sales of new drugs, helped bolster up Pfizer shares
7-1/4 to 112-3/8 in morning trade.
The gains come on the heels of a 4-1/2 point Pfizer advance
seen Friday on expectation of huge Viagra sales for the week
ending April 10.
"This is the largest first week launch in history," said
PaineWebber analyst Jeffrey Chaffkin, citing the IMS figures
which the sales auditing firm provided analysts before
scheduled release to the media later Monday.
By comparison, Chaffkin said in a research report that
sales of Warner-Lambert Co.'s <WLA.N> blockbuster
anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor did not reach a comparable level
of new prescriptions until its eighth week on the market.
Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Tighe said even the most
successful new drugs typically start out only between 1,100 and
3,500 new prescriptions during their first week of sales.
"This is a completely
different order of magnitude. It
looks unprecedented," Tighe told Reuters, referring to Viagra's
initial sales.
Tighe said the sales figures were even more impressive than
first glance because the week included the Good Friday
religious holiday and fewer prescriptions are usually written
on holidays.
Tighe said he had not yet changed his earlier estimate that
Viagra would have 1998 revenues of $350 million, but said the
projection could easily be increased if Viagra sales move
higher in coming weeks.
Chaffkin said he believed Viagra would have 1998 sales of
$600 million. "But it's hard to get a handle on how they will
turn out," he said, adding that because it is the first pill
for impotence there is no history of similar drugs to help
predict how many people will seek such a therapy.
"People are a little shocked how well Viagra is doing and
that Pfizer's stock has gone up 10 percent in just two trading
days," said Mehta Partners analyst Steve Lisi.
Although Lisi said he believed Pfizer's valuation might be
"a fair price" given potential sales for Viagra, he added
investors would be well advised to exercise caution in bidding
shares higher on euphoria for one drug.
Hemant Shah, an independent New Jersey drug analyst, said
Viagra during its first 11 days on the market was selling at an
annual rate of between $500 million and $1 billion.
But he cautioned the high initial sales might suggest
pent-up demand, adding "the rate of use may decline after
several months."
On the other hand, Shah said sales could expand
substantially over current rates because Pfizer had not yet
begun commercial promotion of the impotence drug.
((New York Newsdesk, 212 859-1736))
REUTERS 13:57 04-20-98
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