Merck, Zeneca Hope New Asthma Drugs Will Grab Market Share
Bloomberg News
September 21, 1998, 12:48 p.m. ET
Merck, Zeneca Hope New Asthma Drugs Will Grab Market Share
Geneva, Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Drugmakers Merck & Co. and
Zeneca Group Plc hope reports on recent research will help their
new asthma treatments garner a greater share of one of the
fastest-growing markets in health care.
Merck, the world's biggest drugmaker, and Zeneca, the third-
biggest drug company in the U.K., both published data comparing
their new asthma drugs to Glaxo Wellcome Plc's Becotide, an anti-
inflammatory steroid, hoping to persuade more doctors to
prescribe the drugs for mild and moderate asthma. Becotide, which
generated 331 million pounds in sales last year, is one of six
asthma drugs made by Glaxo, the world's biggest asthma drugmaker.
Growth in demand for asthma treatments from patients in
industrialized countries is expected to lift sales of asthma
drugs in the U.S., for example, to as much as $2.38 billion in
2005 from $1.18 billion in 1996. Many patients now rely on
steroids such as Becotide for relief from symptoms such as
wheezing and shortness of breath.
''Steroids are very active, but they have many side
affects,'' said Philippe Leuenberger, chairman of the European
Respiratory Society conference, held in Geneva this week.
''If these new drugs can help reduce the amount of steroids
needed, that would be interesting,'' said Leuenberger, referring
to Zeneca's Accolate and Merck's Singulair, both of which belong
to a new class of drugs called leukotriene receptor antagonists.
The new drugs block leukotrienes, which cause inflammation
in airways. They have few side affects, while steroids cause the
skin to thin and bruise easily and are suspected of stunting
children's growth.
Merck said at the Geneva conference that in a recent 12-week
study comparing its Singulair with Glaxo's Becotide, its drug
worked faster than Glaxo's, although more patients responded to
the Glaxo steroid. A separate study showed the safety of the
drug, Merck said.
Zeneca said that 70 percent of adolescents in a recent study
prefer Zeneca's Accolate, which like Singulair is taken orally
once a day, to Glaxo's Becotide, which is inhaled.
Researchers at the Geneva conference said more comparative
studies and more clinical trials were needed to show whether
these new substances could ever replace steroids completely or
complement them as an asthma therapy.
Zeneca shares today rose 29 pence, or 1.3 percent, to 2,249p
in a falling London market, while Merck rose as much as 1 3/16,
or 0.9 percent, to 135 5/8.
--Theresa Waldrop in Geneva, through the Zurich newsroom (41-1) |
