Vivus Soars on Increased Impotence-Drug Prospects (Update1)
Bloomberg News
July 7, 1998, 4:49 p.m. ET
Vivus Soars on Increased Impotence-Drug Prospects (Update1)
(Adds closing stock price.)
Mountain View, California, July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Vivus Inc.
surged 45 percent on expectations that the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approval of a new plant in June will help boost
sales of Vivus's impotence treatment, Muse.
Vivus shares rose 3 1/8 to 10 in trading of 8.26 million,
more than four times the three-month daily average. Charles
Olsziewski, an analyst with PaineWebber, raised his rating to
''buy'' from ''neutral.''
The anticipation of competition from Pfizer Inc.'s impotence
pill Viagra pushed down Vivus's stock 59 percent in the past
year. Viagra started sales in April, quickly dominating the
market for impotence treatments. The pill is easier to use than
Vivus's Muse, which requires insertion of a drug pellet in the
urethra.
''The tremendous market reception for Viagra, Pfizer's oral
medication for impotence, and the publicity surrounding its
launch have undoubtedly heightened awareness about this condition
within the marketplace,'' Olsziewski wrote in an report. He was
not immediately available to comment further.
In the report, Olsziewski also wrote that Vivus soon may
announce some significant cost changes. These changes could be
disclosed when Vivus releases its earnings Thursday, he said.
Vivus is based in Mountain View, California. Its new plant
is in Lakewood, New Jersey, and was approved on June 25, Vivus
said. Once the new plant is operating at full capacity, the
combined output of this factory and Vivus's existing one will be
five times the output of the original factory, said Nina Ferrari,
a Vivus spokeswoman.
--Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016/gfh/dd |
