Hoechst, Lilly, Rhone May Benefit After Cardiology Conference
Bloomberg News
August 26, 1998, 10:06 a.m. ET
Hoechst, Lilly, Rhone May Benefit After Cardiology Conference
Vienna, Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Hoechst AG, Eli Lilly & Co.,
Rhone-Poulenc SA and Merck KGaA are among the drugmakers that
did most to boost their products' reputations at this week's
cardiology conference in Vienna, after publishing encouraging
studies that could lift sales of new and old drugs.
While makers of drugs and medical products prepared to
leave the 20th European Society of Cardiology conference, some
such as Sanofi SA knew lackluster results from clinical trials
won't have made the 14,000 or so cardiologists present more
likely to demand the company's products. UCB SA drugs were
studied in two trials, one of which was positive, the other
showing limited benefits.
Doctors say such conferences are critical in helping them
evaluate treatments. With the changing economics of medical
care, they increasingly find their choices are limited, with
more purchasing decisions made by medical-benefit organizations
or hospital administrations.
''The trend at this conference seems to be fewer physicians
are coming to the displays because central administrations are
buying the hardware,'' lamented Per Sevedenhag, marketing
manager for Siemens AG, the German technology giant which
includes among its products sophisticated devices to measure
heart performance.
Drugmakers offer free gifts and prizes to lure doctors to
their displays in Vienna's giant convention center. At some,
doctors who take a quiz about the host company's drug can win a
carrying case -- even if their answers are wrong. At other
stands, where companies are giving away tape recorders or desk
supplies, crowds assemble like the hordes of shoppers who
beseige a department store on sale day.
Good Results Mean Sales
Still, for drugmakers competing in the $35 billion-a-year
global market for cardiovascular drugs, positive results from
clinical trials are still the best guarantee of sales. Drug
companies typically follow a favorable clinical study with
extensive press courtship. Disappointing trial results mean no
media blitz.
A 2,600-patient study of Merck KgaA's bisoprolol, a so-
called beta blocker, probably was the conference's biggest
surprise, doctors said. The study was the first to show that
beta blockers -- one of the oldest and largest classes of heart
drugs -- actually cut mortality rates among acute heart-failure
patients.
Beta blockers, which are mostly generic -- not protected by
any patent -- and made by dozens of drug companies, are now used
to lower blood pressure over long periods. Previously, such
drugs were rarely used in patients with acute coronary
conditions as they were thought to pose a risk of slowing the
heart down and killing the patient.
''This was a smashing study in my view,'' said Freek
Verheujt, professor of cardiology at the University of Nijmegen
in the Netherlands and an organizer of the conference. ''Beta
blockers in heart failure was always absolutely contra-indicated
(against medical practice) for heart failure, but this study was
convincing.''
Studies on Anticoagulants
Anticoagulants -- both new and old -- were also a hot
topic, and while products made by France's Rhone-Poulenc and
Hoechst of Germany got a boost from studies published at the
conference, one from French drugmaker Sanofi didn't.
Anticoagulants, which include products ranging from common
aspirin to newer ''low-molecular-weight'' heparins, are widely
used to thin the blood after heart attacks. Two separate studies
suggested not all low-molecular-weight produce equally
beneficial effects, though.
One large study this week showed that Rhone-Poulenc's
Lovenox, or Clexane, a low-molecular-weight heparin, was
superior to common heparin, a drug almost 100 years old. A
contrasting study showed that Sanofi's Fraxiparin, also a low-
molecular-weight heparin, performed little better than common
heparin.
''All low-molecular-weight heparins are not equal,'' said
Michel E. Bertrand, professor of cardiology at the University of
Lille, France, and an organizer of the conference. ''Fraxiparin
didn't show any effect in unstable angina. Only enoxaparin
(Lovenox) has been shown to be better than heparin.''
Heart-Attack Risk Cut
Doctors said it's likely that low-molecular-weight heparins
will continue to gain market share in a market now worth $1.6
billion a year, since they are easier to use, although more
expensive.
Hoechst's new anticoagulant Refludan also created a stir. A
10,141-patient study found the drug cut the risk of heart
attacks by nearly a quarter in angina patients.
Ulrich M. Grau, a Hoechst senior vice president, said the
company will use the study as the basis to apply for the drug to
be approved as a treatment for unstable angina. It's now
approved for treating complications in heparin use, a
comparatively small market.
''We believe that with the outcome of this study, sales
could be significant,'' said Grau.
Warning About Stents
Some cardiologists said they were alarmed by the increasing
use of stents -- tubular devices installed in some 500,000
patients a year to prop their arteries open. Although they can
save lives, stents, which are made by Johnson & Johnson, Guidant
Corp., Boston Scientific Corp. and others, lose effectiveness in
about a third of patients over periods of months.
''We must stop this stento-mania,'' said Karl R. Karsch, a
professor of cardiology at the University of Tuebingen, Germany.
He said at his medical center, only 3 percent of angina patients
are stented. The University of Lille's Bertrand said 86 percent
of patients at his center are stented.
The use of stents is likely to be boosted by a study of Eli
Lilly & Co.'s drug abciximab, said Bertrand. The six-month study
showed that the use of the drug with stents halved the risk of
death or heart attack from the level that can be expected when
using just stents.
Other companies, including Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough
Corp., also make newly-approved drugs to treat the reclogging of
stented arteries, called restenosis, but no long-term studies
have proven their effectiveness, Bertrand said.
''Stenting plus abciximab is certainly the best combination
in my opinion,'' said Bertrand.
--Dane Hamilton in Vienna, through the London newsroom (44-171) |
