Monsanto to Step Up Marketing Monday on New Painkiller Celebrex
Bloomberg News
February 19, 1999, 1:10 p.m. ET
Monsanto to Step Up Marketing Monday on New Painkiller Celebrex
St. Louis, Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co. said it will
start what could be the biggest marketing effort ever for a new
medicine Monday as it begins promoting its new painkiller,
Celebrex.
In its first four weeks on the market, Celebrex has
generated 254,000 prescriptions, making it the second most
successful new drug in history, surpassed only by Pfizer Inc.'s
impotence drug Viagra. That's all before the Celebrex promotion
campaign gets rolling on Monday.
Monsanto and Pfizer, its marketing partner, may spend $100
million this year on efforts to sell Celebrex, analysts estimate.
Monday, thousands of sales representatives will begin visiting
doctors to tout the new drug's perceived benefits over less
expensive medicines such as ibuprofen.
Monsanto already has built an image for Celebrex as a safer
painkiller, presenting studies showing Celebrex carries less risk
of ulcers and stomach bleeding than older painkillers. Recently,
news stories have relayed the same message to the public.
''There's a lot of pent-up demand,'' said Neil Brooks, a
family-practice doctor who works in Connecticut. ''Some people
have been waiting a long time for something like this to come
along.''
Celebrex is the first of a new kind of painkiller, the so-
called Cox-2 drugs. These were designed to more precisely target
a chemical, cyclooxygenase-2 or Cox-2, that's involved in pain
and inflammation. Merck & Co., the world's biggest drugmaker,
could introduce a similar drug, Vioxx, later this year. Sales of
each could quickly top $1 billion a year, analysts have said.
Celebrex and Vioxx aim to block the Cox-2 enzyme without
hindering a related chemical, cyclooxygenase-1, that protects the
stomach from its own acid. Older drugs interfere with both
enzymes, causing about 107,000 hospitalizations each year related
to gastric bleeding and problems. An estimated 16,500 people die
each year from these complications.
Fueling Demand
Patients who can't tolerate the older medicines are fueling
demand for Celebrex as they flock to a drug that may finally give
them some relief, said Brooks, who's been telling some of his
patients about the new painkillers for the past year.
Celebrex prescriptions are running ahead of Warner-Lambert
Co.'s Lipitor, whose 1997 introduction had been considered the
most successful before Viagra sales begin last year. After four
weeks on the market, Lipitor had garnered 50,000 prescriptions,
less than one-fifth the number written for Celebrex. Viagra,
which racked up 694,000 prescriptions in its first four weeks, is
by far the best selling new drug in history.
The question remains how quickly sales of Celebrex will
increase. Some arthritis sufferers may have unrealistic
expectations for the drug, hoping it will not only be safer than
existing medicines, but also do a better job of relieving pain.
''Patients think new is better,'' said John Cush, medical
director at the Arthritis Center of Presbyterian Center in
Dallas.
Although Celebrex offers a ''gigantic benefit'' for patients
who can't take the older drugs, much of the excitement about the
drug may stem from misconceptions, Cush said. For the past few
years, Monsanto's Celebrex has been discussed as a drug apart
from ibuprofen and aspirin and other drugs called non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. NSAIDs use long has been
associated with concerns about stomach damage.
What many doctors may not yet realize is that the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration considers Celebrex to be part of that
class, Cush said. Although Monsanto wanted a different indication
on its label, the FDA classified Celebrex as an NSAID.
Monkey Wrench
'People who are (involved in drug research) know about this
monkey wrench, but the average physician may not,'' said Cush,
who has been enlisted by Merck to test its rival drug and has
earlier enrolled patients in studies for other drugmakers. ''Many
physicians don't read the package insert.''
Managed-care companies will do what they can to curb some
of the enthusiasm for the new drug. Of the 200 to 300 Celebrex
prescriptions written each day now for members of WellPoint
Health Networks Inc.'s Blue Cross of California unit, only about
15 percent are approved for reimbursement.
In these cases, patients have a medical history that
indicates a risk of stomach bleeding or other complications.
For most patients, generic ibuprofen at a cost of seven
cents a day will do just as well as Celebrex, which costs $2.40
to more than $4 a day, said Robert Seidman, vice president for
pharmacy management at WellPoint's Blue Cross of California unit.
Seidman expects to get more and more Celebrex requests and
to maintain the current policy, which requires that doctors
explain why patients need the more expensive drug.
''Within 30 days, thousands of ... drug representatives are
going to descend on doctors with satchels of Celebrex,'' said
Seidman. ''I've got my stop sign up. It shouldn't be dispensed
like candy.''
--Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016/mfr/gfh
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