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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1584)	7/15/1999 11:50:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Latest Scrips results are out. See synopsi of Bear Stearns and Paine Webber reports on the TZD battle between WLA's Rezulin, SBH's Avandia, and LLY's Actos for type II diabetes or the MTC/PFE Celebrex vs MRK's Vioxx Cox-2 Inhibitor battle for pain. Details linked to the Pharmaceutical Analyst table at pharmacognizance.com

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1584)	8/4/1999 7:05:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 1722

CNBC just announced that DOW is buying UK for $11.6 Billion in a stock deal valued at about $67 based on yesterday's close. Details linked to the CNBC Specials table at pharmacognizance.com

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1584)	8/7/1999 12:54:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 1722

Monday's Barron's has an article that focuses on Pharmas buying out Biotechs. Stuart T. Weisbrod, portfolio manager of Merlin BioMed is interviewed. He thinks that most Pharmas are near the end of a new product cycle and cites JNJ and AHP as exceptions. The fund is shorting PFE. Many Biotechs are mentioned, including ENMD, MEDI, BCHE, GENZ, BRCX, CVTX, GILD, LIPO. An abstract of the article is linked to the Barron's Synopsi table at pharmacognizance.com

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1584)	8/8/1999 1:08:00 AM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

FIVE QUESTIONS By DAVID J. MORROW After Viagra, Pfizer Finds Another Winning Strategy A year ago, nearly everyone in the pharmaceutical industry was talking about Viagra, the tiny blue impotency pill from Pfizer. Not only did Viagra appear in millions of medicine cabinets virtually overnight, but it also became fodder for the late-night monologues of Jay Leno and David Letterman. Men who would have never before admitted that they were impotent could not call their doctors fast enough for prescriptions. With this demand, Viagra racked up 5.3 million presciptions in just six months, the most successful introduction ever for a drug in the United States. Analysts said last year that decades could pass before Viagra's sales record would be eclipsed. But this year, less than 12 months after Viagra's debut, its record run has already been surpassed, by a capsule to treat arthritis. In its first six months on the market, Celebrex, a drug manufactured by Monsanto and marketed with Pfizer, rolled up 6.86 million prescriptions, according to IMS Health, an industry consultant. The only tie between Viagra and Celebrex is that both drugs have been sold by Pfizer, generally regarded as the best marketer in the drug industry. David Saks, a managing director and pharmaceutical analyst at Gruntal & Co., the brokerage house, has long applauded Pfizer and its marketing strategies. He recently took time to discuss what it takes to create a blockbuster drug today. Here are excerpts. Q. Why was Celebrex the most successful drug ever introduced? A.Celebrex walked onto a great platform of opportunity. The market for arthritis drugs was very large, and many patients with arthritis were not satisfied with the drugs that were available. There was a huge demand, and Celebrex was a novel medicine. Of course, it didn't hurt that you had Pfizer selling the drug. They are really effective at getting a message across. Q. Pfizer is the co-marketer of Celebrex with Monsanto. Just what exactly does a co-marketer do? A.In this case, Pfizer sells the drug the same way they would sell a drug they created. They set up a specialty group to sell to primary-care physicians and rheumatologists. Pfizer, to its credit, does not fall victim to the not-created-here syndrome. If they see a market where they can see a big profit, they are willing to help it into the marketplace. Pfizer realizes that no one company can be everything in drug discovery. Q. How important is consumer advertising in selling drugs like Viagra and Celebrex? A.It has become extremely important in education and awareness. Consumer campaigns have played a big part in the push in prescriptions for drugs in the past three years. It is becoming a huge multibillion market, where every company knows there is a high take-out at the pharmacy for the drugs that were the subjects of consumer ad campaigns. The message gets a response, but it's a new phenomenon. These ads help people who are undereducated learn about new pharmaceuticals and maybe see their doctors. That helps everybody. Q. Pfizer used Bob Dole to promote Viagra. Who do you think would be the ideal spokesperson to promote Celebrex? A. It would have to be a mature person who the population knows and respects. They could say that they had used Celebrex or that they have arthritis and understand the condition. Personally, I think Ted Williams, the baseball player, would be great. Q. How surprising is it that a treatment for arthritis would outsell a treatment for erectile dysfunction? A. That's very simple, really. When you have restriction from pain and suffering, you want to get relief, and you want it now. You don't want to live with any incumbrances. With Viagra, as great as it is, it is certainly a choice. It's a life-style drug. With Viagra, you don't have to use it. But with any sort of pain and suffering, you want relief yesterday. Celebrex also had more insurance coverage than Viagra. The big issue with Viagra was giving it insurance coverage, when contraceptives were not covered for women. nytimes.com