Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (5559)	9/16/1998 8:11:00 AM
From: BigKNY3	Respond to of 9523

IMS - Spending -3: Pfizer, Warner-Lambert Seen On The Rise 09/15/98 Dow Jones News Service The key drivers behind the pharmaceutical industry's growth in 1997 were innovation and utilization, according to IMS. Increased use combined with drug enhancements and breakthroughs accounted for 80% of the growth in 1997, a sharp contract from the 1980s when price changes were a more major factor in industry sales growth, the health-care information company noted. "New products are the largest contributors to growth, drug utilization is increasing, the consumer is becoming a force in the creation of demand, and new uses for drugs in enhancing quality of life are being found," IMS' Holubiak said. The number of prescriptions dispensed throughout pharmacies has climbed about 5% over the past several years, reaching 2.4 billion in 1997. Generic drugs accounted for one out of every five dollars of sales and about half of all prescriptions dispensed, IMS said. IMS pegged drug giants Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Warner-Lambert Co. (WLA) as the firms in the industry that are moving up the ranks. With 1997 prescription drug sales of $4.8 billion, Pfizer was among the top five in sales leaders last year and is "on track" to move up in 1998, with more than 27% growth in the first six months alone, IMS said. Warner-Lambert had prescription pharmaceutical sales of $2.0 billion in 1997, an increase of 106.5% over 1996. In the first half of 1998, growth has been similarly strong, at 109.2%. IMS cited the continued success of the company's cholesterol reducer, Lipitor, and oral diabetes drug, Rezulin, for the growth. Also spurring growth is the manpower at the front lines of pharmaceutical businesses, IMS said. The number of pharmaceutical company sales representatives in the U.S. continues to climb, with a projected figure of 57,556 reps by the end of 1998, 39% higher than the number of reps last year. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), Merck & Co. (MRK) and Pfizer led all companies in the industry in terms of sales force sizes - with 4,800, 4,503 and 4,437 reps, respectively. Each company has expanded its ranks by more than 10% over 1996, IMS said. Pfizer - known for its aggressive marketing - grew its sales force by an astounding 21% in 1997, IMS said. Merck's cholesterol reducer Zocor and Warner-Lambert's cholesterol reducer Lipitor are the products receiving the most attention in terms of sales rep support, with 2,910 reps and 2,792 reps promoting the drugs, respectively, IMS said. Going forward, the potential for safer, more targeted therapies holds great promise, Holubiak said. He predicts strides will be taken soon to address arthritis, nonresponsive depression and other refractory diseases. However, "the overall prosperity of the industry will likely be challenged as third-party payers and purchasers attempt to limit their financial exposure and restrict access to novel therapies on the basis of cost-impact alone," he said.

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (5559)	9/16/1998 8:18:00 AM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9523

Some in EU to Get Viagra In Two Weeks, Pfizer Says By Brandon Mitchener 09/16/98 The Wall Street Journal Europe Page 8 BRUSSELS -- Pfizer Inc.'s impotence drug, Viagra, will be available in some European Union countries within seven to 10 days, despite the absence of government reimbursement agreements, the company said after the EU approved the drug. The tiny blue pills are expected to hit the market in Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.K. within two weeks, and in other countries, including Germany, France and Italy, in the middle of next month. Belgium and Greece, which require government price-fixing approval, probably won't see Viagra widely available until December. Although individual market prices remain to be determined, Victor Micati, a Pfizer Pharmaceuticals executive vice president responsible for Europe, said Viagra prices in Europe will be "comparable to the range in the U.S. -- where Pfizer sells the drug to distributors for $6 to $8.50 a pill -- to eliminate the incentive for parallel imports by gray-market dealers. Some Europeans already have found ways to get the drug from the U.S. and from Switzerland, which isn't an EU member. Swiss sales, which began in July, have been better than Pfizer expected, suggesting that some of the pills sold in Switzerland may be finding their way into neighboring Italy, Germany and France. Although he declined to give a specific sales forecast, Mr. Micati said he expects to see "the type of usage we've seen in the United States," where Viagra has broken all previous sales records for pharmaceuticals. The drug is being produced in France, he said, "at appropriate levels to satisfy the market initially." At the same time, Mr. Micati admits that the lack of government approval for national health systems to reimburse patients for the cost of the drug creates an "uncertainty factor" that makes long-term sales projections difficult. "There may be patient pressure for reimbursement," he said. Mr. Micati termed the U.K. decision to ban doctors associated with the National Health Service from prescribing the drug "unfortunate," saying governments in Europe "haven't had the opportunity to really understand the likely patient population for this drug." Predictions that it could cripple ailing national health systems in Britain and Germany are based on "exaggerated projections of financial impact," he said. Britain was among the 15 nations for which the European Commission approved Viagra sales Tuesday. But U.K. Health Secretary Frank Dobson told BBC radio that British authorities might approve Viagra for reimbursement "after we've had further discussion with the company, maybe got the price down a bit further." Ken Moran, managing director for Pfizer UK, said he was amazed by the government's 11th-hour decision to restrict the drug and by its pricing doubts because he had received a letter confirming that the price of the pill was acceptable to the health department. "I just don't understand where the government is coming from," he said. The German government, which traditionally had allowed public health authorities to reimburse patients for some impotence treatments, declared in August that it would no longer pay for them -- including Viagra. The Italian public health system will reimburse impotency patients for penil-implant operations costing as much as $14,000, but is not expected to approve Viagra for reimbursement, according to an Italian urologist who is secretary general of the European Society for Impotence Research. Pfizer estimates erectile dysfunction afflicts as many as 100 million men world-wide, mostly over age 50