March 5, 1999
Monsanto Arthritis-Pain Drug
Surpasses Viagra's Sales Success
By THOMAS M. BURTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Monsanto Co.'s new arthritis-pain drug, Celebrex, has surpassed
impotence medication Viagra in generating record numbers of
daily prescriptions early in its marketing cycle.
Celebrex, now in its seventh week on the market, is on track to
becoming the top-selling drug ever as measured in generating
early sales. Market researchers NDC Health Information Services
found that in three of the last four days, Celebrex surpassed the
total prescriptions generated by Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra at a
comparable stage in its marketing cycle.
"It could become a $2 billion drug this year," said Shel Silverberg,
senior vice president of NDC, which supplies marketing
information to the pharmaceutical industry. "This drug seems to
be causing the market to expand." That is a phenomenon that
occurred with some other successful recent drugs, such as Eli Lilly
& Co.'s antidepressant Prozac and its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.
In the pain market, ibuprofen still leads with more than 30% of
total prescriptions, in addition to over-the-counter sales.
Merck Faces Hurdle
Having already seized more than 20% of the arthritis-pain market,
Celebrex also is well on its way to posing a high hurdle for Merck
& Co., which will be selling a competing drug, Vioxx, as early as
next month on the U.S. market. Doctors and industry officials
estimate that roughly one-third of arthritis sufferers are considered
"dissatisfied" with their current medication, and eager to embrace a
new one.
But, since Celebrex likely will be used by most of those patients by
the time Vioxx will be considered for Food and Drug
Administration approval in late April, Merck may have to consider
whether to try to undercut Celebrex in price. (Merck officials said
that hasn't been decided.) Since the average dose of Celebrex runs
close to $3 a day at many drugstores, Merck may need to consider
whether to focus on another third of the arthritis market. Those
are the patients, many of them elderly, who don't have insurance
coverage for the prescription and find it hard to afford Celebrex.
Celebrex and Vioxx are the forerunners of a new class of pain
drugs known as Cox-2 inhibitors because they act against an
enzyme called cyclooxygenase-2. The drugs are believed to avoid
some of the gastrointestinal side effects that occur in some patients
who use older medicines.
Paradoxically, Celebrex is a rocket ship that hasn't lately boosted
the stock price of Monsanto. Many investors are concerned about
other Monsanto enterprises, such as the heavy debt load it took on
to buy $8 billion in seed companies and other investments in
speculative agriculture biotechnology ventures. Investors, too, are
concerned about the future form of Monsanto because it is
engaged in talks regarding possible business combinations with
DuPont Co. and other companies.
Drug Helped Share Price
While Celebrex's spectacular start did help propel Monsanto from
$37.25 a share on Jan. 19, when the drug was launched, to as high
as $50 a share in early February, the share price settled at $44
earlier this week before news of possible takeover talks emerged.
Monsanto shares closed at $46.1875 in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading Thursday, down 43.75 cents.
Pfizer is co-marketing Celebrex with Monsanto's Searle drug
division, and also is the maker of Viagra, whose sales started
slipping in its sixth week on the market.
Celebrex generated 51,808 prescriptions on Monday compared
with Viagra's 51,728 on the Monday of its seventh week on the
market. Viagra was at 58,893 on Monday of its sixth week,
significantly exceeding Celebrex's 38,789 on Monday a week ago.
Pfizer and Monsanto haven't specified how Celebrex profits are
split, but some Wall Street analysts have estimated that Monsanto
will keep 55% to 60%.
The pain market is fast becoming more complex, with the
emergence of Abbott Laboratories as a co-marketer of Boehringer
Ingelheim's new pain drug Mobic in the U.S. But Abbott will face
the same obstacle that Merck will: If the so-called dissatisfied
patients conclude that Celebrex works for them, they are unlikely
to switch drugs anytime soon. Doctors say that a new arthritis
drug often will work for at least a year in new patients before they
find they need to try a new medicine for their pain. |
