Monsanto Arthritis Drug Tops 350,000 Prescriptions in 5 Weeks
St. Louis, Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co. said its new
arthritis drug Celebrex has had more than 350,000 prescriptions
filled in its first five weeks on the U.S. market, reflecting
pent-up demand for a painkiller that is easier on the stomach
than aspirin and other older medicines.
Richard De Schutter, Monsanto's vice chairman, disclosed
the prescription number in an interview on CNBC. De Schutter
also is chairman, president and chief executive of Monsanto's
drugmaking unit Searle.
Searle today started its marketing campaign for Celebrex,
sending sales representatives to doctors' offices throughout the
U.S.
Even before this effort began, Celebrex, which appears to
irritate the stomach less than other medicines such as
ibuprofen, had one of the best introductions ever. Its success
is topped only by the introduction of Pfizer Inc.'s anti-
impotence pill Viagra last year, according to NDC Health
Information Services. NDC, a unit of Atlanta-based NDC Corp.,
tomorrow will release its own new prescription information on
Celebrex.
In its first four weeks on the market, Celebrex generated
254,000 prescriptions, more than five times the number written
in the comparable period for Warner-Lambert Co.'s Lipitor. Until
Viagra, Lipitor's 1997 introduction was considered the most
successful in history. Viagra racked up 694,000 prescriptions in
its first four weeks.
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