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

To: Little Gorilla who wrote (7092)	2/25/1999 10:06:00 AM
From: Little Gorilla	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer's Viagra to Go on Sale in Japan Next Month (Update1) Pfizer's Viagra to Go on Sale in Japan Next Month (Update1) (Adds sales forecast in 2nd paragraph.) Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra impotence drug will go on sale in Japan next month, said Leslie Patterson, president and chief executive of the drug maker's Japanese subsidiary. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. won't be releasing a Viagra sales target for Japan, though the Japanese company as a whole expects revenue to jump 86 percent to 268 billion yen ($2.2 billion) by November 2002, Patterson said. Viagra became the world's fastest-growing prescription drug after its introduction last year in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. The drug generated sales of $788 million between its debut the first week of April and Dec. 31. The company said it hopes to find out next week whether Viagra will be covered by Japanese national health insurance. The health ministry is obliged to tell Pfizer by March 25th, within 60 days of the drug being approved, said Patterson. Pfizer said it hasn't yet set the date next month when Viagra will go on sale in Japan. For the year started in December, the Japanese unit forecasts a 16 percent rise in sales to 167 billion yen. Japan accounts for 20 percent of the world's annual drug sales. Asia is the Pfizer group's third-biggest revenue source, generating 13 percent of sales, after the U.S. and Europe. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals contributed 18.2 billion yen net income to the group in the year to Nov. 30 1998, up 48 percent from a year earlier, on sales of 144 billion yen. It doesn't release profit forecasts. The Japanese unit has 2.4 percent market share, which it expects to boost to 4.7 percent by 2002, to become Japan's second largest drugmaker. It's no. 13 now, and has 2,655 employees in Japan. By the time it gets to No.2, Japan's No. 1 drugmaker will be ''either Sankyo or Takeda,'' Patterson said. In the U.S. Viagra generated $411 million in the second quarter, its first three months on sale. It brought in $141 million in the third quarter and $236 million in the final quarter, of which $131 million was from sales in the U.S. Japan was the 54th nation to approve the drug. Shares in Pfizer yesterday fell 1 3/8 to 132 1/2 on U.S. markets.

To: Little Gorilla who wrote (7092)	2/25/1999 10:57:00 AM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9523

More on the story: Merck to Face FDA Panel in April on Cox-2 Painkiller Washington, Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co., the world's biggest drugmaker, will face a U.S. government panel in its bid to win approval for a rival pill to Monsanto Co.'s painkiller Celebrex, introduced last month with near-record early sales. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will review Merck's Vioxx drug on April 20, the company said. Like Celebrex, Vioxx appears to be gentler on the stomach while treating pain about as well as older medicines such as ibuprofen. More than 400,000 Celebrex prescriptions have been filled in the U.S. since the drug's mid-January introduction. Merck's best chance to catch up with Monsanto, which is working with Pfizer Inc. to sell Celebrex, might be to win FDA approval of a better label for its drug. This could let Merck market and promote its drug as having more advantages than Celebrex has. ''I don't think it's going to happen, but Merck should never be underestimated,'' said Hemant Shah, an independent analyst with a ''neutral'' rating on Merck. ''If there's any company that might be able to do that, it's Merck. When Merck submits a filing to the FDA, it's near perfection.'' The shares of Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, rose 1 1/4 to 80 3/4 in midmorning trading. Monsanto, based in St. Louis, fell 1 7/16 to 46 9/16. The FDA usually follows the advice of its expert panels when making approval decisions. Celebrex was approved in late December after an FDA panel gave the drug a positive review. Celebrex sales to date have made its introduction the second most successful in history, behind only Pfizer Inc.'s impotence drug, Viagra. Celebrex and Vioxx are so-called Cox-2 drugs, which appear to be gentler on the stomach because they target an enzyme linked to pain and inflammation without blocking a related enzyme that protects the stomach from its own acid. Older drugs can hit both enzymes and, as a result, long-term use of some painkillers can lead to ulcers or stomach bleeding.

To: Little Gorilla who wrote (7092)	2/25/1999 1:55:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Dole's folksy TV ad criticized Conservative Christian leader upset by use of word 'partners' Spokane.net February 25, 1999 Dan Freedman - Hearst Newspapers WASHINGTON _ Bob Dole's TV ad urging men to seek treatment for erectile dysfunction has prompted a protest from a conservative Christian leader who wants Dole to drop the word ''partners'' and use ''spouses'' instead. In the ad, a folksy but subdued Dole is seen talking about his own 1991 bout with prostate cancer and his post-operative concern over impotence. ''You know, it's a little embarrassing to talk about ED (erectile dysfunction), but it's so important to millions of men and their partners that I decided to talk about it publicly,'' Dole says. The Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, sent Dole a letter Wednesday that carefully avoided blaming the 1996 Republican presidential nominee for mentioning ''partners'' in discussing male impotence. Sheldon instead blamed a ''politically correct copywriter at the pharmaceutical company'' sponsoring the ad. The New York-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., manufacturer of the popular drug Viagra, is underwriting the ad. However, Dole does not offer a direct endorsement of Viagra. ''The use of the word 'partner' is problematic,'' Sheldon wrote in a letter to Dole. ''It is inconsistent with the common sense, traditional values of Bob and Elizabeth Dole that Americans know.'' In the letter, Sheldon offered no alternative to ''partner.'' But an accompanying press release from the coalition, which draws members from 40,000 mainly conservative evangelical churches, urged its replacement with the word ''spouse.'' In a telephone interview, Sheldon said it was ''out of character'' for Dole to refer to a partner instead of a spouse. ''The whole idea of a marriage oath is extremely vital to people of faith,'' Sheldon said. Dole ''certainly doesn't support the kind of promiscuity that the word 'partner' can easily be interpreted to mean.'' The distinction between partner and spouse is especially important during a time when President Clinton and other political leaders have been under the spotlight for marital infidelity, Sheldon said. ''I think it's very important that Bob Dole, as a national leader, does not encourage words that are interpreted clearly as promiscuous.'' Spokesmen for Dole and Pfizer did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment. Peter Montgomery, spokesman for People for the American Way, a group that has done battle with the Christian right, called Sheldon's appeal to Dole ''ludicrous.'' ''It's the kind of mindset that says (Dole) shouldn't talk about a health issue except for people who are married, not acknowledging the reality that there are plenty of people who have health problems who are not married, everyone from older people who have ED (erectile dysfunction) to teenagers in sex ed,'' Montgomery said. ''A lot of people who are married would not find 'partner' to be a scary word as Lou Sheldon does. I would guess Bob and Elizabeth Dole would consider their marriage a partnership.'' In an appearance on ABC's ''Good Morning America'' on Feb. 18, Dole said that ''if I have any credibility, maybe I can encourage'' some of the estimated 30 million men afflicted with impotence to seek medical help. ''It's not just from prostate cancer,'' he said. ''It can be from depression, heavy smoking, heavy drinking, diabetes, hypertension ... I don't know how else we're going to reach out to people.'' Dole added that he does not ''prescribe anything or endorse anything. I tell men to call their doctor.'' spokane.net