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

To: Henry Niman who wrote (1259)	12/21/1998 6:24:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1722

Pfizer's Viagra Receives Initial Approval in Japan (Update2) Bloomberg News December 21, 1998, 10:13 a.m. ET Pfizer's Viagra Receives Initial Approval in Japan (Update2) (Adds analyst comment in 4th paragraph, updates stock price.) New York, Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the fourth largest U.S. drugmaker, could begin sales of its impotence pill Viagra in Japan next month after a panel of Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry gave its initial approval. The finding means ministry will almost certainly give Viagra its full backing, possibly by Thursday, analysts said. Viagra would become available around a month later, about the end of January, they said. It's difficult to estimate what kind of sales Viagra could have in Japan, said Alex Zisson, an analyst with Hambrecht & Quist. Viagra was the most successful U.S. drug introduction ever, with sales of $411 million in the second quarter, its first three months on the market. Third-quarter sales fell to $141 million as publicity about the drug slowed down. ''Viagra's ultimate potential still isn't clear in the U.S. and Japan's social customs are different enough,'' to make it difficult to estimate sales there based on those in the U.S., Zisson said. Pfizer, based in New York, rose 1 7/8 to 117 15/16 in early trading. The company, which also makes the antidepressant Zoloft, had earlier said it expected to introduce Viagra in Japan in the first half of 1999. Viagra could have 1998 sales of $800 million and 1999 sales of $1.5 billion, Zisson said. Government restrictions on drug advertising likely will keep Viagra from being as successful in Japan as in the U.S., said Kenji Masuzoe, a pharmaceutical analyst at Deutsche Securities Ltd. Japanese men also might be more embarrassed about asking for medical assistance, he said. ''In American society, (impotence) is recognized as a disease which interferes with quality of life, but in the Japanese sense, it's not really a disease,'' he said. ''Doctors will have to conduct a thorough consultation to prove a patient is suffering.'' Pfizer Pharmaceutical has boosted medical representatives to more than 1,000 in Japan, Masuzoe said. Market Growth The global market for impotence drugs could grow to $4 billion a year as new drugs are introduced to replace less convenient treatments, analysts said. Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc.'s Caverject, for example, is injected by syringe into the penis. Other drugmakers such as Eli Lilly & Co. intend to follow Pfizer and develop their own impotence pills. Between 1 million and 5 million men in Japan are thought to be impotent, said Masuzoe. More than 50 percent of Japanese men over 56 years old are impotent, according to research presented at a media briefing organized by the health ministry. The Health Ministry plans to publish a handbook for doctors and information on side effects for patients. As of mid-November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had confirmed at least 130 reports of deaths among U.S. patients who had taken Viagra, according to Lisa Rarick, director of the division that oversees reproductive and urological products. By comparison, about 1.1 million Americans suffer some form of coronary heart attack every year, and about a third of them will die, according to the American Heart Association. In the nine months to November, doctors in the U.S. wrote more than 6 million prescriptions of Viagra, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. --Ryoko Imaizumi in the Tokyo newsroom (813) 3201-8378 and Kerry