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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: alan laValley who wrote (18375)	1/29/1999 8:19:00 PM
From: VLAD	Respond to of 23519

al, I have thought about the same thing but from what I hear about the way things are at Astra right now I doubt that is true. Don't forget the magnitude of this merger. We are talking about forming the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world. It must be extremely stressful right now to be an employee at Astra or Zeneca. Many heads are rolling as redundent positions are eliminated from the bottom up. Right now I think that A/Z's problem and focus is a smooth transition in the merger and not dealing with dinky little Vivus. I also believe that the European launches are being delayed until the merger progresses to the point that the combined sales force and respective territories etc are determined. Why should Astra have wasted its time holding meetings to discuss/detail MUSE when they would have to repeat the whole process again with the new Zeneca sales people? It would be inefficient to do so. Astra/Zeneca is holding a meeting in Sweden in February for the new and improved sales force. Detailing of products(including MUSE) and sales strategies will be discussed. After that I believe we will hear what we have been waiting for from good ol Leland.

To: alan laValley who wrote (18375)	1/29/1999 8:25:00 PM
From: DaiS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

Alan, I have always worried about this 'hostage' issue...but I think it is delicate situation. If Astra or J&J totally screws Vivus surely it is not good publicity for these giants when approaching other small firms...? DaiS

To: alan laValley who wrote (18375)	1/29/1999 8:36:00 PM
From: Mkilloran	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23519

alan...a more likely reason is exactly the one L Wilson gave in the conf call...the countries in Europe are moving slow to licence Muse. The EU approval was in early DEC and everyone expected the countries to licence Muse about 30 days later as is done with most drugs. The delay IMO is waiting for the 6 week study period in the UK that the NHS has started. The question boils down to how does a country supply/control the expense of ED medications (Viagra is the catalist) but all of the ED drugs are listed in the UK study and are being recommended that only the most severe groups (defined by the NHS) be treated at the tax payers expense. It's a budget issue.....it's a rationing issue... the scope goes beyond ED medications. This is the first test case for lifestyle drugs. What should be eliminated to free up the money to pay for ED drugs.. The NHS was very clear this was not a problem till Viagra was available...they are affraid of the cost and potential abuse of the system. Now why should Germany, Italy, France, Spain and others rush into the middle of this when all they have to do is wait a few weeks and see how it all plays out in the UK. Will the NHS get the feedback from the medical community to kill other wastefull projects to get more funding? Will they refine the group of patients that are eligable for tax payers assistance for these medications??? We'll all hear more in a few weeks how this comes out in the UK. A key point here is that those that want to pay out of pocket or have private insurance coverage can get Viagra, Muse etc in the UK without any problem. It's all about tax money and how to allocate funds..The NHS budget for ED medications is 10 million pounds sterling yearly. They are afraid that with unrestricted Viagra prescriptions the cost could be about 60 million pounds a year....where does the money come from..what do the give up..etc, etc