INTERVIEW-Warner-Lambert aims for Agouron pipeline
Reuters, Tuesday, January 26, 1999 at 20:05
(pvs MORRIS PLAINS, adds details throughout, quotes)
By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Warner-Lambert Co (NYSE:WLA) said
Tuesday its planned purchase of Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(NASDAQ:AGPH) would allow it to acquire eight promising experimental
drugs in the fast-growing areas of virology and oncology,
without diluting Warner-Lambert's 1999 earnings.
Moreover, the New Jersey drugmaker said the acquisition of
Agouron's rich pipeline and drug-discovery technology would
reduce its dependence on the blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug
Lipitor, which accounted for about 20 percent of
Warner-Lambert's 1998 sales of $10.2 billion.
"By bringing together the chemistry capability of Agouron
with the biology strengths of Warner-Lambert, we plan to create
a world-class team," Dr. Anthony Wild, president of
pharmaceuticals for Warner-Lambert, told Reuters in a telephone
interview late Tuesday.
Warner-Lambert earlier Tuesday said it had signed a
definitive agreement to buy Agouron for $2.1 billion in stock.
Under the tax-free pooling-of-interests transaction, each share
of Agouron stock would be exchanged for about $60 worth of
Warner-Lambert stock.
Agouron is one of the most successful and profitable U.S.
biotech companies. It developed and markets Viracept, the
world's best-selling protease inhibitor against the HIV virus
that causes AIDS, and had company sales of $467 million for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1998.
Warner-Lambert officials said Agouron would face no job
cuts and its headquarters would remain in La Jolla, California,
if the deal is approved by Agouron shareholders.
Wild said one of the most important drugs in Agouron's
pipeline is AG-3340, a so-called matrix metalloprotease (MMP)
inhibitor that is in Phase III trials for prevention of tumor
growth in prostate cancer and non small cell lung cancer.
Dr. Peter Corr, a senior Warner-Lambert research executive,
said AG-3340 could be launched by 2001 if successful, becoming
one of the next drugs to emerge from Agouron's pipeline.
AG-3340 is also being tested in Phase II trials for
AIDS-related macular degeneration, an eye-scarring ailment
caused by proliferation of blood vessels in the eye.
Wild said his company planned to expand trials of AG-3340
to treatment of breast cancer "and possibly ovarian cancer" if
Agouron is acquired.
MMP-inhibitors block an enzyme which tumors use to break
down neighboring tissues in order to lure nutrient-supplying
blood vessels to the tumors.
Another Agouron MMP-inhibitor still in pre-clinical studies
would likely be targeted for the same indications as AG-3340,
Wild said.
Wild said another very important product in Agouron's
pipeline is Remune, a killed and altered HIV virus being tested
in Phase III trials to see if it can boost the immune systems
of patients infected by the virus.
"Remune's potential is enormous because if it works, it
could be added to the drug regimens of every AIDS patient,"
Wild said.
By acquiring Agouron and its profitable Viracept drug, Wild
said Warner-Lambert would be able to boost its 1999
pharmaceuticals research and development budget by $200
million, to $1.14 billion.
That represents an almost 50 percent jump from
Warner-Lambert's 1998 pharmaceuticals R&D expenditures of $780
million, he added.
Wild said Agouron's pipeline also includes:
* AG-1549, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor
now in Phase II trials among patients infected with the HIV
virus.
* AG-7080, a nasal spray containing a protease inhibitor to
block replication of the rhinovirus that causes the common
cold. Agouron began Phase I trials of the spray in England in
December.
* AG-1776, a protease inhibitor to block replication of the
HIV virus, including strains of the virus that have proven
resistant to existing HIV protease inhibitors. "It is going to
enter Phase I trials this year," Wild said.
* A so-called purine synthesis inhibitor designed to
interfere with the "cell cycle" of cancer cells, thereby
preventing their replication.
Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service
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