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

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (743)	12/9/1998 5:15:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Merck Guides Analysts to Lower Estimates, Shares Fall (Update1) Bloomberg News December 9, 1998, 4:36 p.m. ET Merck Guides Analysts to Lower Estimates, Shares Fall (Update1) (Updates markets, adds analyst comment) Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co., the world's biggest drugmaker, guided analysts to lower estimates for its profit in 1999 as it hires new sales people and prepares to introduce its most important new drug. Merck Chairman and Chief Executive Raymond Gilmartin said the company could have per-share profit of $4.27 to $4.34 in 1998 and $4.85 to $4.95 in 1999. Gilmartin's remarks at the company's annual meeting with analysts meeting at its headquarters in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, sent shares down because the figures he gave are at the lower end of the range of analysts' estimates. Merck had been expected to earn $4.30 a share in 1998 and $4.97 a share in 1999, the average estimates of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Merck fell 6 7/16 to close at 152 1/4. Earlier in the day, Merck touched an all time high of 161 3/4. Overall, investors were disappointed that Merck didn't have any dramatic good news to announce at the analysts meeting, as it has in past years, said Jeffrey J. Kraws, an analyst with Everen Securities with an ''outperform'' rating on Merck. ''There was a lot of pent-up demand,'' he said. Expanded Sales Force Earlier, Merck said it will add about 700 new sales representatives in the U.S. next year, expanding its current sales force of about 4,000 by 17.5 percent. Merck, the maker of the cholesterol reducer Zocor and the AIDS pill Crixivan, said about 600 of the new sales representatives will target primary care physicians. The company also said it's seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration permission to include information on its Zocor drug's label about how it may help boost levels of HDL, the so- called ''good cholesterol.'' The move shows Merck is working hard to compete against Warner-Lambert Co.'s cholesterol-reducing drug Lipitor, said Viren Mehta, an analyst with Mehta Partners, which has a ''buy'' on Merck. Merck also said it is optimistic about the chances of getting quick regulatory review of its experimental arthritis medicine Vioxx. If Merck wins accelerated review at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Vioxx could be introduced about six months after Celebrex. If not, it could follow by about a year. Merck disclosed for the first time a study that indicates Vioxx is statistically no more likely to cause stomach ulcers than a placebo, or a sugar pill. That finding is important because Vioxx is likely to be prescribed for long-term use in patients suffering from arthritis, who risk developing ulcers when they use existing painkillers. Marketplace Battle Merck is lagging rival Monsanto Co. in what likely will become ''one hell of a marketplace battle,'' said Anstice, who leads Merck's U.S. drug sales. At an analyst meeting today, Merck said its studies of Vioxx are more extensive than was the research Monsanto has done on its similar drug, Celebrex. Vioxx and Monsanto's Celebrex are both so-called Cox-2 drugs, which appear to treat pain and swelling without causing irritating the stomach as existing painkillers do. Merck told analysts today that after three months, 7.3 percent of patients on placebo had ulcers, compared to 4.7 percent of those who received a 25 milligram daily dose of Vioxx and 8.1 percent of those who received 50 milligrams. By comparison, 28.5 percent of those treated with the painkiller ibuprofen developed ulcers. Merck submitted its FDA application for Vioxx in November. Merck is looking to Vioxx to offset the expected loss of patent by 2001 on four drugs with combined 1997 sales of $3.5 billion. Vioxx and Celebrex is expected to be the first of a new class of painkillers, the Cox-2 drugs. These appear to treat pain and swelling without the side effects of existing painkillers, which can cause stomach bleeding. Vioxx and Celebrex are each expected to have annual sales of more than $1 billion. --Kerry Dooley in Whitehouse Station through the Washington news.com