Monsanto's Celebrex Prescriptions for Tuesday Exceed 14,500
Bloomberg News
February 3, 1999, 1:46 p.m. ET
Monsanto's Celebrex Prescriptions for Tuesday Exceed 14,500
St. Louis, Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co.'s new
arthritis drug Celebrex had more than 14,500 prescriptions
Tuesday, NDC Health Information Services said, as people sought a
painkiller with fewer side effects than drugs such as aspirin and
ibuprofen.
NDC's DirectRx service tracks prescription sales at U.S.
pharmacies. Celebrex was introduced in January after winning U.S.
Food and Drug Administration approval in December.
The first of a new class of painkillers that appear to have
fewer side effects than existing drugs, Celebrex had 55,000 total
prescriptions in its first two weeks on the market. In contrast,
Warner-Lambert Co.'s cholesterol-reducer Lipitor had fewer than
12,000 prescriptions in its first two weeks after its 1997
introduction, NDC said.
Lipitor was considered the most successful drug introduction
before Pfizer Inc.'s anti-impotence pill Viagra hit the market
last year. Even with a wholesale cost of about $2.42 a day,
Monsanto's Celebrex is finding many buyers. The drug represents
one of the few advances in arthritis treatment in the past two
decades, analysts have said.
''This is not a novelty drug, (but) it's been helped by the
hype,'' said Hemant Shah, an independent drug-industry analyst.
The media has reported extensively on the promise of a new
class of drugs, the Cox-2 inhibitors, which includes Celebrex and
Vioxx, a drug developed by Merck & Co. They're designed to offer
the same benefits as current painkillers with fewer side effects,
such as bleeding and ulcers. Merck's drug still is under FDA
review. Analysts have said the Cox-2 drugs can achieve annual
sales of as much as $5 billion.
The Cox-2 drugs will compete with painkillers sold by a
range of companies, including SmithKline Beecham Plc, American
Home Products Corp. and Roche Holding AG.
Monsanto, based in St. Louis, fell 1 1/4 to 48 3/4 in
midafternoon trading. Monsanto sells Celebrex through a
partnership with Pfizer, considered to be one of the drug
industry's best marketers. Pfizer, based in New York, fell 1/16
to 132 5/8.
NDC Health is a unit of Atlanta-based National Data Corp.
--Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016/gfh
news.com
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