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

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7022)	2/16/1999 6:48:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Monsanto's Celebrex Prescriptions Near 115,000 in Latest Week Bloomberg News February 16, 1999, 5:18 p.m. ET Monsanto's Celebrex Prescriptions Near 115,000 in Latest Week St. Louis, Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co.'s new arthritis drug Celebrex had almost 115,000 prescriptions filled in the week ended Sunday, NDC Health Information Services said, as doctors quickly adopted a painkiller that seems less likely to cause stomach bleeding than aspirin and ibuprofen. Approved in late December, Celebrex has had one of the most successful U.S. introductions ever for a new medicine, surpassed only by Pfizer Inc.'s anti-impotence pill Viagra, introduced last year, NDC said. Celebrex has already surpassed the success of Warner- Lambert Co.'s cholesterol reducing drug, Lipitor. Its 1997 introduction had been considered the best ever in the U.S. before sales of Viagra started in 1998. In its fourth week on the market, Viagra had 294,000 prescriptions, compared to Celebrex's 115,000. Lipitor had about 23,000 prescriptions in the same period, NDC said. Concerns about ulcers and stomach bleeding with competing drugs will likely make Celebrex a blockbuster with sales eventually topping $1 billion, investors said. Although rare, the side effects of older painkillers such as ibuprofen can be serious, causing an estimated 107,000 hospitalizations and 16,500 deaths a year in the U.S. ''We can use this drug with confidence that as physicians, we are doing no harm,'' to our patients, said Jay Goldstein, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Monsanto, based in St. Louis, fell 1/2 to close at 46 7/8. Celebrex won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in late December. Complications As a gastroenterologist, Goldstein said he is consulted at least once a week on patients with ulcers or stomach bleeding caused by the older painkillers, a class of medicines known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. ''I see the complications,'' said Goldstein, who helped Monsanto test the drug by enrolling about 200 patients in different studies. ''I've spent many a night in the intensive care unit'' treating patients. Celebrex is the first of a new class of painkillers known as the Cox-2 inhibitors. Merck & Co. could introduce a rival drug, Vioxx, this year. These new drugs appear to work by blocking an enzyme linked to pain and inflammation without hampering a related enzyme that helps protect the stomach from its own acid. NSAIDS, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, interfere with both enzymes, sometimes causing erosions in the stomach's protective lining. ''It's like when you take a divot on the fairway,'' Goldstein said of the holes he's seen in stomach linings. NDC's DirectRx service tracks prescription sales at U.S. pharmacies. NDC Health is a unit of Atlanta-based National Data Corp Although Celebrex has been available since January, Monsanto's Searle drugmaking unit won't start its all-out marketing effort for the drug until Monday. Working with Pfizer Inc. as a partner, Monsanto intends to send salespeople to doctors' offices across the U.S. to promote the new drug. --Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016 /mfr news.com

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7022)	2/16/1999 7:14:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

02/16 18:40 Celebrex <MTC.N> prescriptions up for Feb. 14 week CHICAGO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Nearly 115,000 prescriptions for G.D. Searle's arthritis drug, Celebrex, were filled by patients during the week ended February 14, its fourth week on the market, according to NDC Health Information Services which tracks this data. The prescription total is 32,000 more than the previous week, NDC said. Last week, Searle's chief operating officer Al Heller had estimated that more than 100,000 new prescriptions would be generated for Celebrex in its fourth week. The drug has had the second fastest start of any new drug and is gaining on the leader, Pfizer Inc.'s <PFE.N> blockbuster impotency drug Viagra. Searle is co-marketing Celebrex with Pfizer. Celebrex is the first of a new class of drugs called Cox-2 inhibitors to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It was developed to treat pain and arthritis without causing the serious gastrointestinal side effects often experienced in drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Cox-2 drugs inhibit the Cox-2 enzyme that triggers pain, but not the Cox-1 enzyme that protects the lining of the stomach. Searle has said more than 107,000 Americans are hospitalized each year from stomach ulcers and other complications, and as many as 16,500 people die. Searle is a subsidiary of life sciences company Monsanto Co. moneynet.com@NEWS-P2&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7022)	2/16/1999 8:27:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

2/16 PFIZER INC - Gruntal & Co. reiterates strong buy, see growth rate at 25% nordby.com

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7022)	2/17/1999 10:42:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer Sells SF5.3 Mln of Viagra in 6 Months in Switzerland Bloomberg News February 17, 1999, 9:40 a.m. ET Pfizer Sells SF5.3 Mln of Viagra in 6 Months in Switzerland Zurich, Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the fourth- largest U.S. drugmaker, said it sold 5.3 million Swiss francs ($3.7 million) of its anti-impotence drug Viagra in the first six months of sales in Switzerland, making it one of the country's fastest-selling drugs. Pfizer AG, Pfizer's Swiss subsidiary, sold 530,000 Viagra tablets -- or one for every 6.4 men -- in Switzerland in the six months through December, the company said. The ''consistently high demand'' for Viagra proves that many Swiss men suffer from sexual problems and that treatment with Viagra satisfies a medicinal need, said Martin Weilenmann, director of pharmaceuticals for Pfizer AG. Viagra became the fastest-growing prescription drug in the world after it was introduced last year in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere on a wave of publicity not seen for any drug since Eli Lilly & Co.'s blockbuster depression drug Prozac. Still, Pfizer is not sure if Viagra is the best-selling drug in Switzerland. ''It could be that Viagra is the best-selling or it could be (Roche Holding AG's anti-obesity drug) Xenical,'' said Philipp Kampf, a spokesman for Pfizer AG. Pfizer said an added benefit of the introduction of Viagra in Switzerland is that more men have been willing to seek help for erectile disorders. Thirty-one percent of men report they have sexual problems although they rarely receive medical treatment for their condition, according to a study that appeared this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. --Cary O'Reilly in the Zurich newsroom (411) 224-4111/ph news.com