To: VLAD who wrote (13099 ) 8/11/1998 10:26:00 PM From: VLAD Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 23519
I thought I would right this post for those longs who are wondering if Vivus stock price has a decent chance to recover: Currently IMO Vivus is like a cash cow. All their "big spending" expenses are now things of the past. No more advertising campaign, no more new factory expenses, no more sales force salaries, no more stock buy backs. All the fat has been trimmed off the bone including cuts in administration and on the R&D level. Sounds like a company that is serious about getting its house in order and becoming profitable. Vivus now has a new efficient factory and is selling all the MUSE it is capable of producing. Q2 unit production was the largest ever and it will continue to increase until Vivus can keep up with its orders from Janssen and Astra. Vivus has no debt and according to their last earnings announcement as of June 30, 1998 "Cash, cash equivelents and available-for-sale securities totaled $25,400,000.00" Hardly a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Last week script numbers showed the highest new MUSE script rate in 11 weeks but we are still dramatically below preViagra levels. Last weeks new Viagra script numbers were the lowest in 12 weeks and were 65% below its peak values. Much concern is mounting in relation to the safety of Viagra especially in CVD patients. Also, there is still a big unknown regarding retinal effects of Viagra after prolonged use. MUSE on the other hand has an excellent safety profile. Although not as convenient as Viagra, MUSE acts locally to produce erections whereas Viagra is an erection enhancer ie there must be some type of ability to achieve erection for it to work. MUSE also has an advantage of having a much faster action than Viagra (5 minutes vs 1 hour) thus preserving spontaneous sex. Viagra in fact forces sex to become a preplaned activity. The key to Vivus' success now lays in the hands of others. As Leeland Wilson stated in the Q2 conference call, "The success of Vivus' partners in launching MUSE worldwide has demonstrated the benefits of being a well know presence in the market place." Vivus hopes to realize the same benefits regarding forming a domestic partnership with a large pharmaceutical company of which Johnson & Johnson appears to be the most likely candidate. Although Vivus promises an announcement by years end, it appears that a decision should be made by this fiscal quarter's end. Sign up a dometic partner and produce MUSE cheaply and in quantity. This is the game plan. The production part apparently has been solved and continues refinement. Get the partnership deal settled and signed and we are off to the races. If you bought this stock at a much higher price and have any intention of giving it away for a much lower price, please reread this post and reconsider. Do not allow short term trading fluctuations to determine if you should sell or hold. Stick to the fundamentals as listed above. VLAD