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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 (652)	8/19/1998 6:34:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

[WLA, LLY] Forest Labs Finds Drug [Celexa] Not Effective for Alzheimer's (Update2) Bloomberg News August 19, 1998, 4:22 p.m. ET Forest Labs Finds Drug Not Effective for Alzheimer's (Update2) (Adds closing stock price.) New York, Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Forest Laboratories Inc. said a study indicates that a drug it licensed from H. Lundbeck A/S isn't effective in treating Alzheimer's disease. The drug may be considered for other conditions, such as incontinence, Forest said. ''This molecule was going to try a new approach to Alzheimer's disease,'' said Viren Mehta, an analyst with Mehta partners, who has a ''neutral'' rating on the stock. ''There might be some disappointment.'' Forest shares fell 1/16 to 37 15/16. About 4 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease, which causes severe confusion and memory loss. Forest's stock has risen 81 percent in the past year on expectations for its plan to market Lundbeck's antidepressant Celexa in the U.S. Lundbeck, a closely held Danish drugmaker, already sells Celexa in Europe. Forest will work with much larger drugmaker Warner-Lambert Co. to promote Celexa, which may work better for some people with depression than blockbuster drugs such as Eli Lilly & Co.'s Prozac. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug last month. Celexa has fewer side effects and lower risk of bad interaction with other medicines, said Richard Silver, an analyst with Lehman Brothers, who has an ''outperform'' rating on Forest. Doctors may feel more comfortable prescribing Celexa for the elderly, who often are taking several kinds of medication, he said. U.S. sales of Celexa could grow to $500 million within four years of its introduction without taking away much market share from rival drugs such as Prozac, he said. --Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016