Merck's Vioxx U.S. Prescriptions Total 581 in First Six Days
Bloomberg News
June 2, 1999, 6:53 p.m. ET
Merck's Vioxx U.S. Prescriptions Total 581 in First Six Days
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Merck
& Co.'s painkiller, Vioxx, captured only 581 prescriptions in the
first six days after its introduction, signaling the No. 1 U.S.
drugmaker faces a tough battle against Monsanto Co., which sells
a similar pill, Celebrex, an analyst said.
Merck put Vioxx on U.S. pharmacy shelves on four days after
winning federal approval last month, said IMS Health. IMS, an
industry-consulting group, supplied the Vioxx sales estimate. IMS
officials couldn't be reached immediately for comment.
Pfizer Inc., considered one of the drug industry's top
marketers, helped Monsanto introduce Celebrex in mid-January
after the drug won U.S. approval in December. About 10,000
Celebrex prescriptions were filled in the week ended Jan. 24,
according to NDC Health Information, another industry consultant.
''I expected Vioxx's takeoff to be much slower than
Celebrex. How much slower, it will take a few weeks to figure
out,'' said Hemant Shah, an independent pharmaceutical analyst.
''If the numbers don't improve over the next two to three weeks,
then it will be considered a disappointment.''
Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, fell 1 3/8
to 66 3/4 before IMS released the prescription figures.
Merck needs to build Vioxx quickly into a drug with $1
billion to $2 billion in annual sales. By 2001, Merck will lose
patent protection on four drugs with about $5 billion in combined
revenue.
Analysts have estimated that Vioxx and Celebrex each could
reach $2 billion in annual sales within a few years.
They are part of a new class of drugs designed to be gentler
on the stomach than are older painkillers, such as ibuprofen.
That advantage alone could make the drugs blockbusters even
though they are not more effective in treating arthritis pain.
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