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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (617)	3/20/1998 5:33:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer flirts with new high on expected Viagra ok Friday March 20, 3:00 pm Eastern Time NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Shares of Pfizer Inc (PFE - news) on Friday flirted with a new liftime high as enthusiasm mounted over expected U.S. marketing approval this month of Viagra, the company's candidate drug for male erectile dysfunction. Pfizer rose 1-11/16 to 91-11/16 by 1400 EST/1900 GMT, well above the previous high of 90-3/16 reached on February 26. The New York drug giant submitted a new drug application for Viagra (sildenafil) on September 29, 1997, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and was granted a six-month accelerated review. The agency's decision on Viagra, an oral tablet, is expected by March 29. ''With approval approaching shortly, Viagra is on everyone's minds,'' said Furman Selz analyst Jim Flynn. He noted Pfizer was commanding a price-to-earnings ratio of 45, based on his estimate of 1998 basic per-share earnings of $2.05. ''That's a rich premium to the rest of the drug group, which is trading at about 35 times earnings,'' said Flynn, who added he believed Pfizer's higher P/E ratio was justified because of the company's promising pipeline of new drugs. Some analysts have predicted Viagra will eventually garner annual sales of $5 billion or more, making it perhaps the world's biggest-selling drug. Others, while agreeing it has enormous potential, have called Viagra a ''wild card'' whose revenues could fall well short of expectations and pressure Pfizer stock. Pfizer is also awaiting FDA approval this month for Zeldox (ziprasidone), a schizophrenia drug that would compete with Eli Lilly and Co.'s (LLY - news) blockbuster Zyprexa (olanzapine). Pfizer and Monsanto Co. (MTC - news) last month announced a deal to co-promote and develop Celebra, the first of a promising new generation of arthritis and pain drugs that work by blocking the Cox-2 enzyme linked to inflammation. The drug was developed by Monsanto unit G.D. Searle & Co. biz.yahoo.com