Pfizer Working on New Cancer Drugs, Heart Treatments (Update3)
Bloomberg News
November 6, 1998, 5:48 p.m. ET
Pfizer Working on New Cancer Drugs, Heart Treatments (Update3)
(Adds details on cancer and osteoporosis drugs.)
New York, Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. said it is
working on new drugs, including ones that may interfere with the
development of blood vessels that tumors need to grow and others
that counteract the side-effects of estrogen loss in older women.
The No. 4 U.S. drugmaker also is seeking new uses for an
existing drug, the antibiotic Zithromax. Pfizer said it intends
to study use of the antibiotic in more than 3,500 people who have
had heart attacks to see if it can treat heart disease.
''That could be huge,'' said David Saks, an analyst with
Gruntal & Co., who has a ''strong buy'' recommendation on Pfizer
shares.
These experimental drugs may help Pfizer continue its string
of successes and help it overtake No. 1 drugmaker Merck & Co. in
research and development. Most recently, Pfizer introduced the
impotence pill Viagra, the most successful new drug ever.
''The company's goal is to become the premier research-based
pharmaceutical company early in the next decade,'' David
Shedlarz, Pfizer's chief financial officer, said at today's
meeting with analysts in New York.
Pfizer shares rose 1 1/2 to 108 7/8.
Competing for R&D Title
Some of the early research, including the cancer drugs,
seems promising, although it is too early to count on these
compounds becoming approved medicines, said Carl Seiden, an
analyst with J.P. Morgan.
''There wasn't a lot new, but they have so much to talk
about,'' said Seiden, who has a ''buy'' rating on Pfizer.
Pfizer's cancer drugs include a compound from Uniondale, New
York-based OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. This drug, called CP-358,774,
targets a growth factor some cancers need. The drug has completed
the first stage of human testing, used to determine safety.
Pfizer said it intends to move the drug into larger tests.
OSI rose 1 5/8 to 5 1/8.
Pfizer said it has two less advanced compounds that appear
to work by interfering with the process where tumors grow blood
vessels, or angiogenesis. EntreMed Inc., a biotechnology company,
has developed two cancer drugs, angiostatin and endostatin, that
have a similar method of action. None of these drugs have been
tested in people yet.
Viagra for Women
Pfizer also is researching use of Viagra in women. Studies
of this use are in the second of the three stages of testing
required to apply for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval,
Pfizer said. If these results prove positive, Pfizer could begin
the last set of tests needed to apply for U.S. approval of Viagra
for women.
While rival drugmakers such as Eli Lilly & Co. are working
on impotence drugs to compete with Viagra, Pfizer doesn't intend
to let them catch up. The company also is working on new forms of
the drug.
''If a better Viagra can be built, then we intend to be the
ones that build it,'' said John Niblack, head of Pfizer's drug
research and development, said at a meeting for analysts this
morning.
Pfizer executives said there have been ''rare'' observations
of priapism -- persistent erection, which can be painful -- in
men who took Viagra. They said the company would seek to add such
information to the labeling for the drug.
Osteoporosis
For its osteoporosis drug, Pfizer said it intends to conduct
''head-to-head'' comparisons with competing products. Eli Lilly &
Co. makes a similar drug, Evista. Evista is the first of a class
of drugs that appear to mimic estrogen's benefits without causing
side effects. Lilly already is studying Evista for use in prevent
breast cancer and heart disease. The drug is approved for use in
osteoporosis, or a thinning of the bones that makes them more
fragile.
Pfizer said it has two likely compounds for its similar
drug. It expects to put the better of these two into so-called
Phase III trials next year. This is the last stage of testing
needed to apply for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Bacteria and Heart Conditions
At the analysts meeting, Pfizer also discussed its research
into diabetes and heart disease. Previous studies in animals had
suggested a link between hardening of the arteries, also known as
atherosclerosis, and bacterial infection. Zithromax may work
against the bacteria chlamydia pneumonaie.
These projects, which are more experimental, could follow
the more advanced drugs Pfizer already has tested in large-scale
studies.
Pfizer has three much more developed compounds that could be
introduced next year, including a potential blockbuster arthritis
medicine, Celebrex.
--Kerry Dooley in New York through the Princeton newsroom (609) |
