02/16 18:40 Celebrex <MTC.N> prescriptions up for Feb. 14 week
CHICAGO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Nearly 115,000 prescriptions for G.D.
Searle's arthritis drug, Celebrex, were filled by patients during the week
ended February 14, its fourth week on the market, according to NDC
Health Information Services which tracks this data.
The prescription total is 32,000 more than the previous week, NDC said.
Last week, Searle's chief operating officer Al Heller had estimated that
more than 100,000 new prescriptions would be generated for Celebrex in
its fourth week.
The drug has had the second fastest start of any new drug and is gaining
on the leader, Pfizer Inc.'s <PFE.N> blockbuster impotency drug Viagra.
Searle is co-marketing Celebrex with Pfizer.
Celebrex is the first of a new class of drugs called Cox-2 inhibitors to be
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It was developed to
treat pain and arthritis without causing the serious gastrointestinal side
effects often experienced in drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen.
Cox-2 drugs inhibit the Cox-2 enzyme that triggers pain, but not the Cox-1
enzyme that protects the lining of the stomach. Searle has said more than
107,000 Americans are hospitalized each year from stomach ulcers and
other complications, and as many as 16,500 people die.
Searle is a subsidiary of life sciences company Monsanto Co.
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