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

To: chirodoc who wrote (180)	6/3/1998 5:44:00 AM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 1722

ESTIMATE REVISIONS: AHP: EVEREN SECURIT has reiterated estimate for fiscal year ending 12/98 of $1.85 on 06/01/98 AHP: EVEREN SECURIT has reiterated estimate for quarter ending 06/98 of $0.39 on 06/01/98 AHP: EVEREN SECURIT has reiterated estimate for quarter ending 12/98 of $0.50 on 06/01/98 RECOMMENDATION CHANGES: AHP: COWEN & CO. changed recommendation from Hold to Strong Buy on 06/02/98 QWST: HAMBRECHT&QUIST reconfirms the recommendation as Strong Buy on 06/01/98 TG

To: chirodoc who wrote (180)	6/3/1998 11:40:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Monsanto Holders Sue to Block $35 Bln American Home Merger Bloomberg News June 2, 1998, 12:05 p.m. PT Monsanto Holders Sue to Block $35 Bln American Home Merger Wilmington, Delaware, June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co. shareholders sued to block the $35 billion merger of the biotechnology and agricultural products company with drugmaker American Home Products Corp., saying Monsanto officials should have shopped around for the best price. Madison, New Jersey-based American Home, maker of Advil painkiller and Premarin hormone therapy, will swap 1.15 of its shares for each share of St. Louis-based Monsanto, best-known for its pesticides, weed killers and Ortho line of lawn and garden products. That values Monsanto at $56.64 a share at Monday's closing price. That's not enough, though, according to three Monsanto shareholders who filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Stockholders Neal Greenstein, Stephen Paul and Gregory Smith said investors are getting ''virtually no premium'' for their shares and Monsanto officials could have gotten a better price by opening the company up to other offers. Monsanto's board approved the transaction ''without undertaking steps to accurately ascertain Monsanto's value through open bidding or at least a market-check mechanism,'' Greenstein said in his suit. The shareholders are asking a Delaware judge to block the merger until an independent review of Monsanto's value is done through a bidding process, the suit said. Officials of Monsanto and American Home weren't available for comment. Shares of American Home fell 2 3/16 to 47 1/16 while Monsanto's fell 2 1/4 to 52 3/16 in late trading. --Jef Feeley and Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware (302) 984-

To: chirodoc who wrote (180)	6/3/1998 11:43:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

AHP Added to 'Fresh Money Buy List' at Morgan Stanley DWD Bloomberg News June 3, 1998, 7:16 a.m. PT Princeton, New Jersey, June 3 (Bloomberg Data) -- American Home Products Corp. (AHP US) was added to the ''fresh money buy list'' by analyst Byron Wien at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The 12-month target price is $57.00 per share. -- Andrew Bekoff in Princeton, New Jersey, (609)279-3652

To: chirodoc who wrote (180)	6/3/1998 8:51:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

AHP agriculture focus sets it apart from US peers Wednesday June 3, 4:21 pm Eastern Time By Ransdell Pierson NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters) - While American Home Products Corp (AHP - news) plunges deeper into agriculture, analysts said other large U.S. drugmakers will allow AHP, DuPont (DD - news) and overseas drug companies to dominate crop-protection and crop biotechnology. AHP agreed Monday to buy Monsanto Co (MTC - news) for over $30 billion in stock, a deal intended to create a powerhouse in crop protection and bioengineered seeds by combining AHP's extensive agrochemical operations with Monsanto's expertise in plant genetics. Analysts said AHP was willing to stick with agriculture despite the lower margins and seasonality of the business that has prompted other U.S. drug makers to flee the business. AHP can afford to go the agricultural route, they said, because Monsanto's strengths will allow the merged company to become a commanding force in the field. Monsanto has developed soybean, cotton and corn seeds altered to resist pests and to tolerate Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, with $3 billion of the company's $7.5 billion in 1997 sales coming from agriculture-related products. AHP agricultural products -- including Pursuit and Prowl herbicides as well as fungicides and insecticides -- accounted for $2.1 billion of 1997 company revenues of $14.2 billion. AHP's faith in the agricultural sector puts it in the same league with Novartis AG (NOVZn.S) of Switzerland, the world leader in agribusiness among drugmakers, U.K.-based Zeneca Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: ZEN.L); Bayer AG (BAYG.F) and Hoechst AG (HOEG.F) of Germany; and Rhone-Poulenc SA (RHON.PA) of France. AHP's heightened commitment to agriculture comes barely a year after Eli Lilly and Co (LLY - news) and Merck & Co (MRK - news) divested their remaining crop-protection holdings. Lilly last year sold to Dow Chemical Co (DOW - news) its interest in DowElanco, an Indianapolis-based agricultural chemicals and pest-management venture, for $900 million. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., sold its crop protection business in May 1997 to Novartis for $910 million -- saying it wanted to concentrate on its more-profitable pharmaceuticals business. With the departure of Lilly and Merck from the agriculture arena, EVEREN Securities drug analyst Jeffrey Kraws said AHP was the only remaining major U.S. drugmaker with an agricultural focus. By contrast, he noted that many of Europe's largest drug companies have major industrial chemicals operations -- units which for decades have developed herbicides and pesticides. ''Unlike U.S. pharmaceutical companies, many overseas drug companies have chemical operations that produce things for agriculture,'' Kraws said, adding European drug companies use cash flow from the chemicals units to finance drug research. ''In the United States chemical companies have been separate from pharmaceutical companies for quite some time. It could be a matter of cultural preference,'' Kraws added. Sam Isaly, a principal of New York research firm OrbiMed Advisors, said consolidation in the crop protection business has continued apace in recent years. ''It's a matter of either getting bigger or getting out. Merck and Lilly got out, while Zeneca, Hoechst, Rhone-Poulenc and Zeneca got bigger.'' Gruntal & Co analyst David Saks said most large U.S. drug companies, including AHP, have enjoyed double-digit earnings growth in recent years from newer high-margin pharmaceuticals. By contrast, he said big U.S. drug companies -- except for AHP -- had become wary of crop protection products because of ''the erratic, highly seasonal, cyclical and price-sensitive nature of agriculture.'' ''Agriculture is a seasonal business. You do most of your business in the first half of the year. It's a harvest-related business. And the margins are lower than pharmaceuticals,'' said Neil Sweig, a drug analyst for Southeast Research Partners. ABN-AMBRO drug analyst James Keeney said he doubted the AHP/Monsanto matchup would spur any other large U.S. drug companies to re-enter the crop protection business or become deeply involved with bioengineered seeds and plant genetics. ''It's too late. The big players in those areas are already in place. They have such a great lead in seeds and herbicides that I don't see other U.S. drug companies joining the fray,'' Keeney said.'' Keeney said he supported the AHP-Monsanto merger largely because it throws into AHP's lap promising drugs from Monsanto's G.D. Searle pharmaceuticals unit, including Celebra -- a potential blockbuster arthritis drug expected to be launched in 1999. Analysts noted that DuPont, a chemical company which has a modest-sized pharmaceuticals operation, is also attempting to develop new technologies to genetically modify corn, soybeans and other seeds to improve their nutritional content. The Delaware-based company last month agreed to pay Merck $2.6 billion for Merck's half interest in the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company, the joint venture they formed in 1991. The venture had pharmaceutical sales of $1.3 billion in 1996 and 1997 and has several candidate drugs in its pipeline.