Lilly Drug Reduces Risk of Breast Cancer in Studies
Bloomberg News
May 18, 1998, 6:59 a.m. PT
Lilly Drug Reduces Risk of Breast Cancer in Studies
Los Angeles, May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co.'s bone
protecting drug Evista cut the risk of breast cancer at least in
half for patients in ongoing studies of the drug, Lilly said.
Patients taking Evista in ongoing osteoporosis studies had a
70 percent reduction in cases of newly diagnosed invasive breast
cancer as compared with patients on placebo, according to the
findings of a 7,705-patient study to be presented later today at
a cancer conference in Los Angeles.
Another study found patients on Evista had a 54 percent
reduction in new cases of breast cancer. There was no increased
risk of uterine cancer among patients taking Evista, Lilly added.
''If these data are confirmed, it's going to be a really big
product,'' said Sergio Traversa, who follows Lilly for Mehta
Partners. ''It becomes really almost perfect, if we can speak
about perfect for a pharmaceutical product.''
Shares in Indianapolis, Indiana-based Eli Lilly rose 1 7/8
to 70 5/16 in recent trading.
Lilly shares gained 14 percent in two days last month after
an enticing glimpse of the data in abstracts, or short summaries,
of studies to be featured later today at the annual meeting of
the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Los Angeles.
Developed as a designer hormone drug for preventing the bone
loss which strikes most women after menopause, Evista has since
shown evidence of protecting women from other possible medical
problems, including heart disease and cancer.
''You could have a very significant share price appreciation
in one day,'' if the drug's preventative benefits hold up to the
scrutiny of doctors and analysts, said Akhtar Samad, an analyst
with Mehta Partners LLC. ''I think that the data looks very
promising at the abstract level. The important questions are
going to be addressed in the oral presentation.''
Side Effects
The fact that Evista didn't increase the risk of uterine
cancer is particularly significant because British drugmaker
Zeneca Group Plc's tamoxifen, the first and only other drug shown
to reduce a woman's risk of breast cancer, has been shown to
actually increase a woman's risk of developing uterine cancer.
Because of those side effects, the tamoxifen drug, which
could be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within
the next six months, is not a drug for routine use in all women,
cancer experts said. The drug was tested in women at a very high
risk of breast cancer, and could soon offer a very important new
choice for such women.
Researchers will present and discuss full data on the
tamoxifen trial -- most of which has previously been released --
today as well.
Lilly's drug is years behind tamoxifen in terms of the kind
of testing which is needed to ensure safety and a dependable
benefit. Still, if data bears out that Evista is free of the
uterine cancer side effect -- and in fact protects against it --
the drug could see boost in sales down the road, analysts said.
'Big Product'
Stakes are high, because Lilly needs to present convincing
data and boost confidence in the drug's blockbuster potential,
analysts said.
Big sales for Evista are important for Lilly as the company
looks to replace its big blockbuster drug Prozac. Currently the
world's best selling anti-depressant, Prozac will likely see its
patent expire by 2004.
Disappointing early sales of Evista have made Lilly fall
about almost 1 percent this year, lagging the 19 percent return
of the Standard & Poor's Drugs Index.
''For what they expected to be a home run, it's been a
single or a double,'' said David Saks, a Gruntal & Co. analyst
who has a ''neutral'' rating on the company.
Saks said the company is hoping the breast cancer prevention
use will drive a growth in sales for the drug over time. The anti-
osteoporosis drug had a slow introduction, he said, and still
lags behind Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck & Co.'s
Fosamax.
Merck's drug is approved for treating the bone-thinning
condition, while Evista is cleared only for prevention.
Evista and tamoxifen, which is sold under the brand name
Nolvadex and also in a generic form by Barr Laboratories Inc. in
the U.S., are part of a class of drugs that mimic the action of
the hormone estrogen in some parts of the body and counteract its
effects in others. Pfizer Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S and SmithKline
Beecham Plc are developing similar drugs.
Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease in
women, and among cancers only lung cancer kills more women every
year. An estimated 180,300 new cases of breast cancer will be
diagnosed in 1998, according to the American Society of Clinical
Oncology.
--Kristin Reed in Los Angeles with reporting from Kerry Dooley in |
