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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 (904)	10/13/1998 4:54:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

AHP, Monsanto drug unit seen prospering separately Tuesday October 13, 4:26 pm Eastern Time By Ransdell Pierson NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - American Home Products Corp. (NYSE:AHP - news) and the pharmaceuticals unit of Monsanto Co. (NYSE:MTC - news) will each prosper alone, but AHP will feel pressure to sell its agricultural division following the failed merger attempt by the two companies, analysts said. Analysts said the merger, which would have positioned AHP Chief Executive John Stafford and Monsanto Chairman Robert Shapiro into roles of co-chief executives of the combined company, apparently collapsed over management-control issues. It was AHP's second stumble at the altar this year. On Jan. 30, SmithKline Beecham Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SB.L) unexpectedly canceled its merger talks with AHP after 10 days of courtship. The same evening, SmithKline announced it had jilted AHP in order to court its British neighbor Glaxo Wellcome Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: GLXO.L) with the hope of forming the world's largest pharmaceutical company. That romance also foundered, however, when the talks between SmithKline and Glaxo collapsed acrimoniously on Feb. 23 -- with SmithKline accusing Glaxo of reneging on carefully worked out merger plans. The AHP/Monsanto pact, which was valued at nearly $34 billion when it was announced on June 1, was terminated by mutual consent, the companies said Tuesday. ''The board of directors of each of the two companies has determined that the transaction is not in the best interest of their respective stockholders,'' AHP said in a statement. The merger would have allowed AHP to catapult its important crop-protection business into the genetics age by acquiring the agricultural biotech expertise of St. Louis-based Monsanto, known for its insect- and pesticide-resistant seeds. It would also have given AHP claim to the promising drug pipeline of Monsanto's G.D. Searle pharmaceuticals unit -- especially a novel pain and arthritis drug known as Celebra (celecoxib) now awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Celebra, like a potential rival prescription compound Vioxx being developed by Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK - news), is believed to block pain without causing ulcers and gastrointestinal problems common to existing therapies. Monsanto had previously assigned co-marketing rights to Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - news) for Celebra, a drug that analysts have said could eventually capture annual sales of more than $1 billion. ''If AHP has lost anything by losing Monsanto, it has lost potential co-marketing rights to this potential blockbuster drug,'' said ABN-AMRO drug analyst James Keeney. ''And it may have also lost its ability to survive long term in agriculture,'' Keeney said, adding that AHP's existing agricultural line consists of older pesticides and pesticides with percentage sales growth in the ''low single digits.'' AHP's agricultural products accounted for $2.1 billion of the company's $14.2 billion in 1997 sales. Neil Sweig, a drug analyst for Southeast Research Partners, said he believed AHP should now jettison its agricultural line and focus on its higher-margin drugs, which include female hormone replacement therapy Premarin, oral contraceptives and vaccines. ''Without Monsanto, the question is do they want to get larger in the business by making agriculture acquisitions. Or should they dress up the agriculture business and sell it at a fancy price -- that's what I think they should do,'' Sweig said. AHP spokesman Lowell Weiner said his company had no plans at present either to merge with another company or to sell its agriculture division. ''But we are always open to business opportunities,'' he told Reuters, declining to rule out either possibility. ''AHP and Monsanto would have been a good fit, but it wouldn't have been a merger of desperation. Both companies have good drug pipelines and can stand alone,'' said Hambrecht & Quist analyst Alex Zisson. Keeney noted that AHP was awaiting FDA approval for four new drugs, including arthritis drug Enbrel, Sonata for insomnia and Rapamune for organ transplant rejection. He said Monsanto's G.D. Searle unit, meanwhile, is conducting late-stage trials on two promising oral anti-platelet drugs, orbofiban and xemilofiban. Mehta Partners analyst Ajay Bansal predicted AHP would make a third attempt at a ''merger of equals,'' but he said the list of possible suitors was limited. Among them, he mentioned Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY - news), Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE:SGP - news), SmithKline and Zeneca Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: ZEN.L).

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (904)	10/13/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

Pfizer 3rd-Qtr Profit From Ops Up 15%: Earnings Instant Insight Bloomberg News October 13, 1998, 4:12 p.m. ET Expected Market Reaction Limited. Pfizer Inc.'s third-quarter profit from operations rose 15 percent to $667 million, or 51 cents a share, from $579 million, or 45 cents a share. The results for the maker of the impotence drug Viagra compares with the 57-cent average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Behind the Numbers Pfizer introduced two drugs this year, Viagra and the antibiotic Trovan. It also has been able to boost sales of its other drugs, such as the depression medicine Zoloft. Pfizer also helps market Warner-Lambert Co.'s blockbuster drug, the cholesterol reducer Lipitor. Introduced in 1997, Lipitor had second-quarter sales of $533 million. New York-based Pfizer intends to shed its medical-device businesses to focus on the more profitable drug business. Last month, Pfizer sold two of these units for a combined $2.23 billion. It intends to sell a third medical-device business for $1.9 billion. What the Experts Say ''Look at the fundamentals of Pfizer,'' said Robert Flamm, an analyst with Evergreen Asset Management, which holds about 214,000 shares of the company. ''They're a marketing machine, they're a research machine. They know how to get products out.'' Previous Market Reaction Pfizer rose 2 1/2 to 116 on July 9 when it reported a 38 percent increase in profit, topping estimates. Viagra, introduced in April, achieved unprecedented success for a new drug. Second- quarter sales reached $411 million as pharmacies stocked up on the drug and magazine and news reports helped raise demand. Market Trend Pfizer has dropped 20 percent to 93, Monday, since reporting second-quarter results. In the same period, the Standard & Poor's Drugs Index fell 5.5 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 15 percent. Pfizer fell as reported U.S. Viagra sales declined. Sales peaked at 308,631 prescriptions in the week ended May 8, according to NDC Health Information Services, which monitors pharmacy sales. Viagra sales seem to be increasing again, NDC said. In the week ended Oct. 2, 190,538 Viagra prescriptions were filled, up from 169,946 a week earlier, said NDC, a unit of Atlanta-based National Data Corp. --Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016 /mfr