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Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: billkirn who wrote (5409)	9/25/1998 3:32:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 6136

Merck slips on rival AIDS-drug data, profit taking Reuters, Friday, September 25, 1998 at 14:20 NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Shares of Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) fell on Friday amid profit-taking and concerns over data showing successful less-frequent dosing for a rival protease inhibitor AIDS drug made by Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AGPH), analysts said. Merck fell 2-1/4 to 134-7/8 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Agouron eased 1/4 to 32-3/8 on Nasdaq. Earlier Friday, California-based Agouron said clinical trials showed that a higher 1,250 mg. dose twice each day of its drug Viracept worked as well as its currently approved regimen of three 750 mg. doses each day. Agouron released preliminary results of the 48-week trial of Viracept at the American Society for Microbiology conference in San Diego. It involved 238 patients taking cocktails of drugs against the HIV virus that causes AIDS. If approved, analysts said a twice-daily dosage of Viracept could take more market share from Merck's Crixivan -- a thrice-daily protease inhibitor that had 1997 sales of $582 million. "The news about Viracept is hurting Merck because it could put more competitive pressure on Crixivan," said Premal Pajwani, a drug analyst for Dresdner Bank Group's research unit Dresdner, Kleinwort, Benson. Pajwani said less-frequent dosing of Viracept would allow HIV patients to simplify their drug regimens, which typically include at least three medicines that can involve dozens of pills a day. Earlier this month, Merck said it had discontinued twice-daily clinical trials of Crixivan in combination with reverse transcriptase inhibitors, another class of drugs commonly used in anti-HIV cocktails. But Merck said it would continue to study twice-daily dosing of Crixivan in combination trials with other protease inhibitors. In August, Viracept boasted 33 percent of the U.S. market for protease inhibitors, based on new prescriptions, overshadowing for the first time Merck's Crixivan, which slipped to 31 percent. Pajwani said total U.S. Crixivan prescriptions in August of 52,000 were 15 percent less than the same month last year. And new Crixivan prescriptions of 18,000 for August 1998 reflected an 18 percent slump from August 1997, he added. Meanwhile, he said the total number of U.S. Viracept prescriptions for August -- also 52,000 -- was 50 percent higher than the same month last year. "If Viracept simplifies its dosing regimen, that means less hassle for patients, which will make the drug more competitive against Crixivan," said Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Tighe. Tighe said profit-taking by investors on Friday was another factor weighing against Merck, noting that its share price had surged in recent days after dipping to 115-15/16 during the broad selloff in U.S. stock markets on August 31. "It looks like some people may be taking some money off the table," Tighe said. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service