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

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (6211)	11/5/1998 10:00:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Merck Offers Refunds to Compete With Warner-Lambert Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. will offer a money-back guarantee to patients who use its top-selling drug, the cholesterol reducer Zocor, as it attempts to recover market share lost to Warner-Lambert Co.'s Lipitor. Merck, the world's biggest drugmaker, said it will refund as much as six months of Zocor's cost to patients whose LDL cholesterol levels don't fall to targets set by their doctors. The offer requires that patients try a 30-day prescription of Zocor's largest dose, 80 milligrams. High cholesterol levels have been linked to increase risk of stroke and heart attack. For that reason, cholesterol-reducing medicines have become a highly competitive $6 billion market. To counter Lipitor, Merck introduced the higher-dose Zocor in July and stepped-up marketing, including television advertisements. The refund offer is ''a long shot,'' said Hemant Shah, a drug-industry analyst with a ''neutral'' rating on Merck. ''They have to keep trying because Zocor and other cholesterol drugs continue to lose share to Lipitor.'' Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, rose 3 11/16 to 142. It earlier touched a record high of 142 5/16. Many doctors say Lipitor, introduced last year, is more effective than Zocor, which has been sold in the U.S. since 1992. Zocor sales rose 10 percent to $990 million in the third quarter, while Lipitor sales more than doubled to $569 million. Zocor costs about $3 to $3.50 a day. Patients who get Zocor through insurance plans will be compensated only for their share of the cost, Merck said. Insurers also are eligible for the refund

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (6211)	11/6/1998 3:25:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Singapore approves Viagra for prescription sale SINGAPORE, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The Singapore Ministry of Health said on Friday it had approved the sale of the anti-impotency drug Viagra produced by U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc PFE.N. It said in a statement it "has decided to take a cautious approach towards its introduction into Singapore." The initial registration of the drug would be valid for six months after which a re-evaluation would be conducted, it said. Doctors in Singapore would be required to keep a separate dispensing record for the drug, it added. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is checking at least 69 deaths that could be linked to Viagra, although doctors say that is not an unusual number relative to the numbers taking the drug, and the FDA says it is safe. -- Singapore newsroom: (65) 8703081; Fax 7768112 -- E-mail: singapore.newsroom@reuters.com REUTERS Rtr 01:38 11-06-98 Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service dljdirect.com