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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32623)	9/17/1998 4:55:00 PM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Wednesday September 16, 1:09 am Eastern Time Drug Industry Affected by Asian Flu By EILEEN GLANTON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Cholesterol drugs and antidepressants are hot. Diet drugs are not. And the global pharmaceutical industry is beginning to show symptoms of the Asian flu. In a midyear report Tuesday, health-care information company IMS Health said worldwide sales of prescription drugs should total $308 billion this year, up 1.7 percent from 1997. But Japan, once a major customer for many pharmaceutical companies, will account for a shrinking portion of sales. North America will remain the primary area of growth, with a 42 percent share of the world market, up from 34 percent in 1993. Meanwhile, Japan will account for 13 percent of pharmaceutical sales, compared with 20 percent in 1993 and 15 percent in 1997. Sales of $45.4 billion last year to the Asian nation are expected to shrink to $40 billion in 1998. The financial crisis that has riddled Japan all year isn't the only reason for the drop, said William Machtiger, vice president for global client services at IMS. Government-ordered price cuts on drugs took effect in April. Also, a slow regulatory process means some drugs that are wildly popular in other nations -- including Viagra, the blockbuster impotence drug -- are not yet available in Japan. But Japan isn't the only weak spot. In fact, emerging economies in Latin America, Africa and Asia, while ripe for growth, aren't likely to contribute much to global drug sales this year, Machtiger said. He said European drug companies, which tend to have more exposure to emerging markets, may be more at risk for battered profits than U.S. companies, which do about two-thirds of their business in North America. Among the most successful classes of drugs in 1998 are cholesterol drugs, up 21.8 percent from 1997, and antidepressants, which increased 19.6 percent, IMS reported. Lipitor, a cholesterol reducer made by Warner (NYSE:WLA - news)-Lambert Co., is the fastest-growing product worldwide, with $1.3 billion in sales in the 12-month period that ended in June. Diet drugs have fared the worst this year, following the withdrawal of two popular drugs, fenfluramine and Redux, after users complained of heart problems. Sales of anti-obesity drugs are down 42.8 percent compared with 1997. The springtime debut of Viagra has transformed the market for sexual dysfunction drugs, IMS officials noted. Viagra, on track to reach $1 billion in sales in its first year, is the main driver behind a 300-percent growth rate for that class of drugs. Viagra also helped propel manufacturer Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - news) to the second-highest sales growth rate among drug companies. In the past year, Pfizer's sales have soared 16 percent, second to Eli Lilly & Co., which saw sales rise nearly 19 percent. Lilly makes the antidepressant Prozac. Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK - news), the top-ranked company in worldwide sales, had 12 percent growth.