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Biotech / Medical : wla(warner lambert) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (373)	11/11/1998 11:00:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 942

Warner-Lambert drug appears helpful after bypass biz.yahoo.com

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (373)	11/11/1998 11:01:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 942

Warner-Lambert's Lipitor Reduces Need for Angioplasty in Study Bloomberg News November 11, 1998, 9:32 a.m. ET Warner-Lambert's Lipitor Reduces Need for Angioplasty in Study Dallas, Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Warner-Lambert Co. and Pfizer Inc.'s top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor reduced the need for the artery-opening procedure angioplasty in a new study that could lead to wider use of the drug. The much-anticipated study, presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Dallas, also showed Lipitor could reduce heart complications when compared to angioplasty. Patients who got angioplasty, however, had a greater improvement in symptoms such as chest pain. Before the study was released, analysts said publicity surrounding it might push down the stocks of makers of angioplasty equipment such as Boston Scientific Corp. Still, they said, the study isn't likely to significantly curb use of angioplasty. It's more likely to spur greater use of Lipitor and drugs like it, whether alone or in combination with angioplasty, they said. ''It's going to be a positive for Lipitor. Period,'' said Daniel Lemaitre, a device analyst at SG Cowen Securities. The study is part of Morris Plains, New Jersey-based Warner- Lambert's strategy to boost sales of Lipitor, already a top seller which brought in $569 million in the third quarter. Introduced in 1997, Lipitor made Warner-Lambert one of the world's most profitable drugmakers. ''They view it as their main engine of growth for the next couple of years,'' said Jack Lafferty, an analyst with U.S. Trust, which holds about 4.7 million Warner-Lambert shares, according to regulatory filings. Warner Lambert shares rose 9/16 75 13/16 in early trading. Angioplasty Candidates The so-called AVERT study included 341 heart patients with at least one diseased artery who doctors would consider candidates for angioplasty. Patients were randomly assigned to either receive Lipitor or undergo angioplasty. In about one-third of the angioplasty patients, doctors also implanted stents, tiny devices used to prop open arteries. Boston Scientific, Guidant Corp. and Arterial Vascular Engineering Inc. are the top makers of stents, which are expected to generate sales topping $1 billion in the U.S. this year. After 18 months, 87 percent of the patients assigned to Lipitor were doing fine on the medicine and didn't require angioplasty. Patients on Lipitor also had a 36 percent reduction in a measure of heart complications, mainly by requiring fewer hospitalizations and having less need for further procedures including bypass surgery. The reduction is ''clinically very, very important,'' said Bertram Pitt, a researcher from the University of Michigan who previewed the results for reporters. ''If you never have to have an angioplasty and do well, I think you're a lot better off than having one.'' Pitt noted, though, that while any patient with high cholesterol should be a candidate for drug therapy, many will still require angioplasty. Least Sick Patients Indeed, before the meeting, drug and device analysts pointed out that the patients in the study were some of the least sick seen by doctors. If the patients were in imminent danger of a heart attack or other problem, the doctors would have been obliged to send the patients into angioplasty, they said. ''You need to step back a little bit and recognize the study's design,'' Lemaitre said. ''The patients that they are treating here are not the garden-variety angioplasty patients.'' The procedure and the drug's use could be complementary, he said. While the use of Lipitor and drugs like it should increase, the study shouldn't have a major effect on the number of artery- opening procedures performed, Lemaitre said. Lipitor, which Warner-Lambert co-markets with New York-based Pfizer, is part of a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins. Merck & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Novartis AG sell other members of the hot drug class. Lipitor's success has come at least partly at the expense of Merck. Third-quarter sales of Merck's top product, the cholesterol drug Zocor, rose 10 percent to $990 million. --Kristin Jensen in Dallas with reporting from Kristin Reed in news.com