Pfizer May Sell Viagra in Japan in 1st Half of 1999 (Update3)
Bloomberg News
July 24, 1998, 1:40 p.m. PT
Pfizer May Sell Viagra in Japan in 1st Half of 1999 (Update3)
(Adds closing stock price.)
New York, July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. said it could
begin selling the impotence pill Viagra in Japan in the first
half of 1999 and expects that men in that country will be able to
get reimbursement for it from the government health insurance.
Some U.S. insurers, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, won't pay for Viagra. Still, the drug had $411 million
in sales in its first three months on the U.S. market. Pfizer
intends to introduce another blockbuster, the painkiller Celebra,
in 1999 through a partnership with the drug's maker, Monsanto Co.
Celebra could mark the third time in three years that Pfizer
brings out a blockbuster drug. Pfizer helped Warner-Lambert Co.'s
cholesterol drug Lipitor reach $865 million in sales in 1997, its
first year on the market. Lipitor sales more than tripled to $533
million in the second quarter of this year.
''Pfizer made it clear that they are a powerhouse marketer
and going to get stronger,'' said David Saks, an analyst with
Gruntal & Co. with a ''strong buy'' rating on Pfizer who attended
an analysts' meeting with company today.
Pfizer rose 2 1/16 to 113 1/2.
Pfizer said it will hire 800 to 900 sales representatives
by March, expanding its current sales force of about 14,500.
Pfizer said it has become the preferred partner for other
drugmakers partly because of the way it can use this sales force
to help introduce their new products, such as Lipitor and
Celebra.
Earnings Estimates
At the meeting today, Pfizer also said it is comfortable
with estimates that peg its 1998 profit at $2.05 a share to $2.10
a share. The average estimate in a First Call Corp. poll of
analysts, done before the meeting, was $2.12 a share. An IBES
International Inc. Poll had an average estimate of $2.11 a share.
With Celebra, Pfizer and Monsanto are racing Merck & Co.,
the world's biggest drugmaker, to be the first to introduce a new
kind of painkiller that doesn't irritate the stomach. Analysts
estimate that a $5 billion-a-year market exists for these drugs,
which are called Cox-2 inhibitors.
Celebra likely will arrive on the market before Merck's
drug, said Henry McKinnell, who leads Pfizer's pharmaceutical
operations. He said he couldn't comment specifically on when
Monsanto will apply for U.S. approval of the drug. That comment
can only be made by Monsanto, he said.
Arthritis Market
Pfizer's agreement with Monsanto will remain in place after
St. Louis-based Monsanto completes a planned $38 billion merger
with Madison, New Jersey-based American Home Products Corp. The
new company could be dominant in the arthritis market, which
Celebra will target first. Merck and Monsanto both have tested
their Cox-2 inhibitors among arthritis patients, whose reliance
on painkillers make them vulnerable to stomach bleeding.
Existing painkillers work by interfering with an enzyme,
cyclooxygenase, linked to pain and swelling. The enzyme also
plays a role in protecting the stomach from the acid it contains.
The new painkillers don't interfere with this protective
function.
Merck's drug may have an advantage in once-a-day dosing,
while Monsanto's pill would likely be taken twice a day,
McKinnell said. Still, Monsanto's drug may have advantages in
terms of side effects, he said.
Pfizer also said it won't file again until 1999 for approval
of a schizophrenia drug that the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration rejected last month. The FDA was concerned about
whether the drug could interfere with the heart's rhythm.
--Kerry Dooley in New York through the Princeton newsroom (609)
Dow Jones Newswires -- July 24, 1998
Pfizer Expects To Spend $2.3B For R&D In 1998
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Pfizer Inc. (PFE) said it is "comfortable" with analysts' earnings estimates of $2.05 a diluted share to $2.10 a dilued share for the year.
The company said that assessment excludes impacts from acquisitions, divestitures, licensing fees, legal settlements and other unusual items.
A First Call survey of 31 analysts put the company's 1998 earnings at $2.12 a share.
In a press release Friday, Pfizer said it expects to spend about $2.3 billion on research and development during 1998.
Pfizer said it expects the number of prescriptions for its Viagra product will increase over the remainder of 1998.
Viagra has been prescribed more than 3 million times since hitting the market in April.
Pfizer also said it filed for approval of Viagra in Japan.
Pfizer said Viagra doesn't increase the risk of cardiovascular events for patients with cardiovascular disease, and the company reiterated that Viagra is 'highly effective" and safe when used as directed in the product label.
The company said its post-launch experience, including possible drug interactions, has been entirely consistent with the clinical trial results submitted to the FDA and the product labelling approved by the FDA.
Pfizer said it is planning to agree with the Food and Drug Administration on the parameters of an additional clinical study for its antipsychotic Zeldox.
In June the FDA said it would not approve a new drug application for Zeldox filed in September without additional clinical data.
Pfizer expects to refile the NDA late next year, and said it doesn't plan to launch Zeldox elsewhere in the world until the new clinical study is completed.
Pfizer said its financial performance for the full year will depend on the continued strong performance of new, in-line and alliance products, as well as the size and timing of its investments, the impact of foreign exchange and the effective tax rate.
The company said it will introduce new products in 1999, including Celebra, which Pfizer will co-promote with the G.D. Searle division of Monsanto Co. (MTC).
Searle discovered and developed Celebra, which is used to treat pain and swelling of the joints associated with arthritis.
Pfizer also said none of its major patents will expire over the next several years, and the company expects to expand its field organization beginning in the fourth quarter.
The drug company said prescription for its Norvasc, a calcium channel blocker for the treatment of hypertension and angina, grew by 22% during the first half of 1998.
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