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

To: WS_DE who wrote (4625)	7/28/1998 4:09:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

N.J. Man Uses Viagra To Boost Performance, Crashes Car, Sues Pfizer July 28, 1998 3:56 PM NEWARK, N.J. -(Dow Jones)- Blue streaks shooting from the fingers of a Middlesex County man who took Viagra for recreational use caused a car crash, according to a lawsuit filed against Pfizer Inc., the maker of the blockbuster impotence drug, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. The $110 million lawsuit appears to be the first stemming from Viagra's vision side effect, the lawyer for used-car salesman Joseph Moran said Tuesday. The July 1 crash happened after Moran, 53, of Woodbridge, was driving home after a date. Moran had taken Viagra an hour earlier, but "never went past necking," claimed the lawyer, Ronald R. Benjamin of New York. Moran said he was driving along Park Avenue in Plainfield when he began seeing blue spots in a blue haze and passed out. "I'm reaching to take the cassette out of the radio, I see like electric current lines, like lightning, going from my fingers to the radio," Moran said. The next thing he remembers is seeing a police officer by the window of his totaled 1994 Thunderbird. "When I got the police report I saw I hit two parked cars, a sign and a tree. I didn't even know it," said Moran, who owns City Line Auto Sales in Rahway. Moran said he now has neck pain that makes sleep difficult and finger numbness. He had taken the drug about 30 times before, without side effects, in a bid to improve his sexual performance, Benjamin said. Pfizer (PFE) has said it wouldn't comment on the Moran case. The drug isn't approved as a sexual performance enhancer. Benjamin, who has also sued Pfizer on behalf of several men who say Viagra caused heart attacks, said Moran is his first client to admit taking the drug for recreational use. He filed the lawsuit Monday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Moran said he wasn't aware that Pfizer cautioned that only men suffering from impotence should take Viagra. Moran said that his plastic surgeon wrote his Viagra prescription. "This is a drug that should not be on the market," Benjamin said. Moran has stopped taking Viagra and the blue vision hasn't returned, the lawyer said. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: WS_DE who wrote (4625)	7/28/1998 10:22:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9523

WS: Thanks for the link. In return here is an important trend in Big Pharma that has been reported in two separate broker reports: Pharmaceutical companies are divesting "small" and non-strategic products to "specialty" pharmaceutical companies . Have PFun! BigKNY3 Salomen Smith Barney (7/1/98) "As the large pharmaceutical firms continue to grow through mergers and consolidation of blockbuster new products, the attractiveness of products with small and modest sales potential diminishes. This leads Big Pharma to divest non-strategic product lines and to abandon R&D efforts associated with smaller sales potential products." "We believe the trend towards increased size among pharmaceutical giants and the shedding of small-to medium sized products represents the most important underlying positive influence on the emerging specialty pharmaceutical segment." DLJ- June 23, 1998 "The sheer size of (Big Pharma) companies has fostered a change in marketing and research strategies which now emphasize a focus on developing and selling primarily large "blockbuster" or dominant franchise product lines." "Drugs that do not have an economic potential of at least $250M are often not considered for advanced development and are increasingly considered non-strategic." " These initiatives have contributed to the divestment of "non-core" product lines, providing an ample supply of small to medium drug lines for acquisition by the specialty pharmaceutical companies." "The increased scale and sheer size of the combined revenues of two merged companies, raises the minimal structural sales "hurdle" rate for existing pharmaceutical product lines, a trend encouraging the disposal of smaller non-strategic product lines."