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

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (536)	11/13/1998 12:06:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

Corporate Bonds: Monsanto Plans to Sell $2.5 Billion of Bonds Bloomberg News November 13, 1998, 10:52 a.m. ET New York, Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co., a large agricultural biotechnology companies, plans to sell $2.5 billion of bonds, joining a growing list of companies taking advantage of low interest rates and strong investor demand for bonds. Monsanto, which will use proceeds of its sale to refinance debt stemming from recent seed company acquisitions, follows eight other sales of $1 billion or more in the past two weeks, including $5 billion by Sprint Capital Corp.'s on Tuesday. Several companies have returned to the market within days of selling bonds. US West Capital plans to sell $400 million of 20- year bonds, one day after affiliate US West Communications Inc. sold $320 million of 10-year notes. The flurry of sales, and efforts by corporate treasurers to sell new bonds at lower spreads over Treasuries or outstanding bonds, is beginning to take its toll on investors. ''The street wrung a lot of value out of some of these new deals,'' said Richard Stevens, who helps manage $12 billion of fixed-income assets at Colonial Advisory Services in Boston. If that continues, some new bonds may sell slowly, he said. ''We may start to see things come back with more spread to it,'' he said. St. Louis-based Monsanto, which makes genetically improved crops, drugs and nutritional products, outlined plans yesterday to raise $5 billion through equity and debt sales, after spending $8 billion the past two years to buy seed companies and other technology it needed to compete in that market. The company said it also plans to cut as many as 1,000 jobs and sell some businesses for $1 billion. Monsanto Ratings The company's senior debt is rated ''A1'' by Moody's Investors Service and is under review for possible downgrade. It's rated ''A'' by Standard & Poor's Corp., with a negative outlook. The flurry of corporate bond sales the past month followed a period of slack investor demand from early August to early October. Buyers were concerned that a slowdown in the U.S. economy would hurt corporate profits and credit ratings, and were also deterred as securities dealers cut-back their market-making as they were hit by trading set-backs and learned of bigger-than expected holdings at troubled hedge funds. Investor demand improved after the Federal Reserve's cut short-term interest rates in late September and Oct. 15 boosted investor confidence in the economy. The spread between investment-grade corporate bonds and Treasuries narrowed 15 basis points to about 163 basis points since Oct. 15, according to a Merrill Lynch & Co. index. US West Capital, the finance arm of Denver-based telephone company US West, plans to sell its 20-year bonds at an expected yield of about 110 basis points more than 30-year Treasuries. US West Communications, part of the former US West Inc. family, sold $320 million of 10-year notes yesterday at a yield of 5.672 percent, or 83 basis points more than Treasuries. Earlier this year the old US West was split into two independent companies: a telephone company known as US West Inc. (whose major subsidiary is US West Communications), and cable media company, MediaOne Group Inc. Among other expected sales, Occidental Petroleum Corp., an oil and gas exploration company, plans to sell between $300 million and $400 million of notes. KN Energy Inc., a natural gas producer and transporter, plans to sell $375 million of three-year notes next week. --Kathleen Spillane in the New York newsroom (212) 318-2034/mq

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (536)	11/13/1998 12:08:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

ACR MEETING: Celebrex Relieves Arthritis Pain As Well As NSAIDs SAN DIEGO, CA -- Nov. 13, 1998 -- Results from Phase III studies of Searle and Pfizer's investigational drug Celebrex™ (celecoxib) show that the drug relieved the signs and symptoms of arthritis as effectively as the full therapeutic dose of two of the most widely-prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) pain relievers, but with a gastrointestinal (GI) safety profile similar to placebo. The results were presented at the American College of Rheumatology's 62nd national scientific meeting. Celebrex is currently undergoing priority review by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and for the management of pain. In one of the largest clinical development programs in arthritis, celecoxib was tested in more than 14,000 patients and subjects world-wide. Celebrex is a member of a proposed new class of agents known as specific COX-2 inhibitors, which are designed to block the COX-2 enzyme activated in inflammation while sparing the activity of the COX-1 enzyme that protects the lining of the GI tract. The COX-1 enzyme also plays a role in blood clotting and kidney functions. Common side effects of NSAIDs, which are non-specific inhibitors of COX-1 and COX-2, include GI ulceration and bleeding, inhibition of platelet aggregation and interactions with other drugs. In clinical studies, celecoxib was as effective as the widely-used NSAID naproxen in both RA and OA, but with a superior GI safety profile. One of the Phase III studies, a 12-week trial involving 1,149 RA patients in an active disease (flared) state, showed that celecoxib (100 mg, 200 mg, 400 mg BID) was as effective as naproxen (500 mg BID) in relieving joint tenderness, pain and swelling and was superior to placebo. In addition, the upper GI safety profile of celecoxib was not significantly different than placebo and was superior to naproxen. Another 12-week study involving 1,004 patients with OA showed that celecoxib (100 mg or 200 mg BID) worked as well as naproxen (500 mg BID) in relieving OA symptoms and better than placebo. In a different trial, celecoxib at 600 mg BID had no effect on platelet aggregation while naproxen at a full therapeutic dose (500 mg BID) reduced platelet aggregation by 95 percent. In another study, celecoxib worked as well as the widely-used NSAID diclofenac, but with significantly fewer GI complaints and a four-fold reduction in ulcers as detected by endoscopy. This 24-week double blind study involving more than 600 RA patients demonstrated that, over the course of therapy, celecoxib (200 mg BID) was as effective in the treatment of pain and swelling of RA as diclofenac SR (75 mg BID). Post-study endoscopic exams found the incidence of gastroduodenal ulcers was nearly four times lower in celecoxib patients than those treated with diclofenac. The overall incidences of GI complaints (for example, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dyspepsia) were 33 percent higher in the diclofenac group than in the celecoxib group. In addition, more patients were able to continue taking celecoxib than diclofenac. This was due to a higher number of withdrawals based on adverse GI events in the diclofenac group. The Phase III study findings also showed that celecoxib showed no significant drug interaction when taken with methotrexate or warfarin -- two drugs often prescribed to arthritis patients.