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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (510)	11/11/1998 8:01:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Searle says drug cut heart patient mortality rates Wednesday November 11, 7:26 pm Eastern Time DALLAS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Searle, Monsanto Corp.'s (NYSE:MTC - news) pharmaceutical division, said Wednesday that a study found adding its Aldactone to standard treatments reduced deaths by 27 percent in patients who had suffered severe heart failure. The study was sponsored by Searle and conducted by the University of Michigan, and the results presented to the American Heart Association meeting in Dallas. Aldactone has been commonly used since 1960 for treating edema (excessive accumulation of fluid), but had not been indicated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat severe heart failure patients. A Searle spokesman said the company had not decided whether to seek FDA approval to market the new use. Bertram Pitt, the lead investigator, said the study has changed preconceived notions about treating severe heart failure. Aldactone blocks the release of aldosterone by the body. Aldosterone causes sodium retention, which can lead to various negative effects, including hardening of the arteries in the heart. Pitt, of the University of Michigan's cardiology division, said the study shows that common treatments for severe heart failure were not sufficient to block aldosterone. Typical treatment regimens for severe heart failure include angiotensin converting enzymes, or ACE inhibitors, which have been thought by doctors to reduce aldosterone. The study followed 1,663 patients in 15 countries. During the trial there was a 44 percent death rate among the group receiving standard therapies and a 34 percent death rate among the Aldactone group, which received the drug in addition to standard therapies. Originally scheduled to end in December 1999, the trial was halted 18 months early, when the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board said the Aldactone patients had significantly lowered mortality rates. biz.yahoo.com

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (510)	11/11/1998 8:09:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

FOCUS-Monsanto restructures; up to 2,500 jobs to go Wednesday November 11, 7:54 pm Eastern Time (New throughout, adds CFO comments paras 6-7, 9-11, 13-14) ST. LOUIS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co. (NYSE:MTC - news) said on Wednesday it would cut up to 2,500 jobs, or about 9 percent of its global work force, restructure some operations and sell off some businesses as it prepares to complete $6 billion in seed company acquisitions. The life sciences company said 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. It said the 700 to 1,000 cuts would be effective in the first quarter of 1999 and that ''a number'' of them would be at executive levels. Monsanto said in a statement it would raise up to $4 billion to fund its seed company acquisitions by issuing 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. Monsanto's chief financial officer Gary Crittenden said the financing plan would not have been necessary if the company's merger with pharmaceutical firm American Home Products Corp. (NYSE:AHP - news), which fell through in October, had occurred. ''We would not have needed a financing plan had we gone ahead with the merger with American Home Products,'' he said in a telephone interview. ''There probably would have been job reductions had we gone ahead with that but they probably would have been different than the ones we have arrived at here.'' Monsanto struck several deals this year to purchase seed companies, including $2.3 billion for DeKalb Genetics Corp. (NYSE:DKB - news) and $1.9 billion for cotton seed maker Delta and Pine Land Co. (NYSE:DLP - news). Crittenden said the companies Monsanto plans to divest would be nonstrategic. ''We have identified that the farm business and our ag business and the nutrition platforms are going to be key assets of the company,'' Crittenden said in a telephone interview. "Anything beyond that really is not absolutely core to our strategy and is kind of on the table. ''We're evaluating the full range of assets that we have and anything that is not strategic, for which we think we can get a better sale value than we can operating value, we'll take action on,'' he said. 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 pretax restructuring and special charges of $400 million to $600 million. Crittenden said that excluding businesses purchased and sold, costs would be reduced by more than $250 million. But he said success of the company's product lines would far outpace any cost savings from the restructuring. ''The growth expectations we have coming out of those businesses are enormous compared to the cost reduction,'' he said. ''The cost reduction is a factor but not nearly as important as the benefit that we will see'' from the commercialization of Monsanto's products. Monsanto's stock ended up 50 cents at $38.69 on the New York Stock Exchange.