London, February 13, 1999 - IMS HEALTH (NYSE:RX)
today reported that Celebrex prescribing in the U.S. continues
to climb - reaching 93,838 total prescriptions dispensed for
the week ending Feb. 5. This represents a nine-fold increase
over the 9,527 dispensed total prescriptions for the week ending
Jan. 22. Celebrex is the first in a new class of drugs called
Cox-2 inhibitors, used to treat the symptoms of rheumatoid
arthritis as well as osteoarthritis. According to IMS HEALTH,
primary care physicians - defined by the specialties of Family
Practice, General Practice, Osteopathic Medicine and Internal
Medicine - and rheumatologists now generate 66 percent of
Celebrex prescriptions, followed by Orthopedic Surgeons, who
are writing 15 percent of Celebrex prescriptions. IMS HEALTH
is the world's leading provider of information solutions to the
pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
The majority of Celebrex prescriptions (57 percent) are being
dispensed through chain drugstores, followed by independent
pharmacies, which are dispensing 31 percent of prescriptions.
The remaining business is held by food stores with pharmacies
and mail-order prescriptions, accounting for 11 percent and 1
percent of prescriptions, respectively. Mail-order prescriptions
for Celebrex average approximately 125 tablets each, while
prescriptions filled through other channels - chain drugstores,
food stores with pharmacies and independent pharmacies -
average less than 44 tablets each.
Looking at recent top product launches, Celebrex's performance
has outpaced all but Viagra's, based on new prescriptions captured
during the first three weekson the market.
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