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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: aknahow who wrote (1028)	11/11/1998 6:46:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

Pfizer says Norvasc cuts cardiovascular events Wednesday November 11, 12:09 pm Eastern Time By Ransdell Pierson DALLAS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - news) said Wednesday that patients taking its flagship hypertension and angina drug Norvasc had 31 percent fewer cardiovascular events than patients taking a placebo. Pfizer was to formerly present data from its 825-patient trial of coronary artery disease patients later Wednesday at the annual American Heart Association scientific sessions being held here. Dr. Rob Scott, Pfizer's cardiovascular medical director, said the events that were apparently reduced by Norvasc, a calcium channel blocker, included heart attack, stroke, death, angioplasty, bypass surgery, hospitalizations for severe angina and heart failure. He said patients taking Norvasc (amlodipine) required 46 percent fewer angioplasty and bypass procedures, and had 35 percent fewer hospitalizations for severe chest pain. In angioplasties, surgeons open up clogged arteries by threading through them a catheter tipped with an inflated balloon. Bypass surgery involves the grafting of an artery from elsewhere in the body into the heart to restore blocked blood flow to the pumping organ. Scott told Reuters the study was the first to show such impressive preventive benefits for any calcium channel blocker. Previous trials of other channel blockers by other companies showed dismal results that had blackened the reputation of the class of drugs, he said. Scott and other researchers, however, said that both placebo patients and patients taking Norvasc in the Pfizer trial showed no real difference in the progression of their atherosclerosis, or clogging of the arteries. But the amount of plaque buildup in the carotid artery, which supplies blood from the neck to the brain, was significantly lower in the Norvasc group, he said. ''That is important because as you get increased plaque in the carotid artery, you have an increased danger of stroke,'' he said. The lesser clogging of the carotid artery in the Norvasc group was among the most important findings in the three-year study. Norvasc is currently approved for hypertension and angina but not for prevention of stroke, Scott said. About 14 million Americans have coronary artery disease, which Pfizer said causes 500,000 deaths a year and is the leading cause of death in the United States. Sales of Norvasc in 1997 totaled $2.2 billion, about triple the expected 1998 sales of Pfizer's blockbuster impotence drug Viagra. Pfizer said the Norvasc study, which began in 1992, took two years to recruit patients, who were then tracked for three years. ''Of all the calcium channel blockers, Norvasc has the longest duration of action,'' Scott said, an aspect that he said might help account for its better performance in preventing incidents than previously-tested channel blockers. Older drugs in the class include Procardia-XL, another Pfizer drug, and generic drugs such as Nicardipine, Scott said. biz.yahoo.com

To: aknahow who wrote (1028)	11/11/1998 6:50:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Monsanto to raise $4 bln for seed co acquisitions Wednesday November 11, 5:17 pm Eastern Time ST. LOUIS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Life sciences company Monsanto Co. (NYSE:MTC - news) said Wednesday it would pay for recent seed company acquisitions with new issues of debt and equity, the sale of some businesses and a restructuring that will cut as many as 2,500, or about 9 percent, of its global workforce. The company said it would raise up to $4 billion to fund the acquisitions and that 700 to 1,000 jobs would be cut as part of the restructuring, with another 1,300 to 1,500 jobs taken off the Monsanto payroll through business divestitures. The company said in a statement that it would issue about $1 billion of common stock, $500 million of adjustable conversion-rate equity security units (ACES) and $2.5 billion of long term unsecured debt. In addition, Monsanto said it expected to raise at least $1 billion from business divestitures. It said the 700 to 1,000 job cuts would be effective in the first quarter of 1999 and that ''a number'' of them would be at executive levels. The restructuring plan is expected to reduce administrative costs by roughly 20 percent in 1999 compared with 1998 and the company said it expected to take fourth quarter restructuring and special charges of $400 million to $600 million on a pretax basis. Monsanto announced several seed company acquisitions earlier this year, including plans to purchase DeKalb Genetics Corp. (NYSE:DKB - news) and Delta and Pine Land Co. (NYSE:DLP - news). The company's planned merger with pharmaceutical firm American Home Products Corp. (NYSE:AHP - news) fell through in October. Monsanto shares ended Wednesday at $38.69 on the New York Stock Exchange. biz.yahoo.com