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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (6908)	2/3/1999 2:43:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Respond to of 9523

Monsanto's Celebrex Prescriptions for Tuesday Exceed 14,500 St. Louis, Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co.'s new arthritis drug Celebrex had more than 14,500 prescriptions Tuesday, NDC Health Information Services said, as people sought a painkiller with fewer side effects than drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. NDC's DirectRx service tracks prescription sales at U.S. pharmacies. Celebrex was introduced in January after winning U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in December. The first of a new class of painkillers that appear to have fewer side effects than existing drugs, Celebrex had 55,000 total prescriptions in its first two weeks on the market. In contrast, Warner-Lambert Co.'s cholesterol-reducer Lipitor had fewer than 12,000 prescriptions in its first two weeks after its 1997 introduction, NDC said. Lipitor was considered the most successful drug introduction before Pfizer Inc.'s anti-impotence pill Viagra hit the market last year. Even with a wholesale cost of about $2.42 a day, Monsanto's Celebrex is finding many buyers. The drug represents one of the few advances in arthritis treatment in the past two decades, analysts have said. ''This is not a novelty drug, (but) it's been helped by the hype,'' said Hemant Shah, an independent drug-industry analyst. The media has reported extensively on the promise of a new class of drugs, the Cox-2 inhibitors, which includes Celebrex and Vioxx, a drug developed by Merck & Co. They're designed to offer the same benefits as current painkillers with fewer side effects, such as bleeding and ulcers. Merck's drug still is under FDA review. Analysts have said the Cox-2 drugs can achieve annual sales of as much as $5 billion. The Cox-2 drugs will compete with painkillers sold by a range of companies, including SmithKline Beecham Plc, American Home Products Corp. and Roche Holding AG. Monsanto, based in St. Louis, fell 1 1/4 to 48 3/4 in midafternoon trading. Monsanto sells Celebrex through a partnership with Pfizer, considered to be one of the drug industry's best marketers. Pfizer, based in New York, fell 1/16 to 132 5/8. NDC Health is a unit of Atlanta-based National Data Corp.