Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Mkilloran who wrote (19164)	3/1/1999 2:19:00 PM
From: Zebra 365	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 23519

EU OKs Zeneca-Astra Merger First about my last post, it was not really directed at BigK, but at the incredible minutia that are discussed here which could have no possible impact on VVUS stock. I happen to agree with BigK that small things dealing with Viagra have little impact on VVUS and, for the amount of total PFE sales (7%) that Viagra represents, little impact on PFE. Now for the real news which may impact VVUS soon....... EU OKs Zeneca-Astra Merger .c The Associated Press LONDON (AP) -- A proposed merger that would create one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies edged closer to completion Monday after would-be partners Zeneca Group PLC and Astra AB won approval of the European Union. The approval of EU antitrust regulators was one of the hurdles that Zeneca, a British company, and Astra of Sweden had to pass before merging. The new company, to be called AstraZeneca, will have combined annual drug sales of about $11.5 billion. The pair still need the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to sign off on the deal. Astra's shareholders, including a block of small investors skeptical of the marriage, also must agree. The shareholders have until March 18 to vote on the proposed merger. Zeneca and Astra, which announced their merger in December, are among a handful of pharmaceutical companies consolidating to compete more effectively with heavyweights like Britain's Glaxo Wellcome and Pfizer and Merck & Co. of the United States. Germany's Hoechst and France's Rhone-Poulenc have agreed to merge their drug and agrochemical businesses as the first step toward a total merger. However, Hoechst spokesman Carsten Tilger declined to comment on a report that its largest shareholder, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., is divided over whether to back the proposed merger. The deal would create the world's biggest life sciences group, based on 1997 sales. Astra's ulcer and heartburn drug Prilosec is the world's best-selling prescription medicine. Zeneca is the second-leading maker of cancer drugs behind Bristol-Myers Squibb of the United States. It also has a large agrochemical business and owns Salick Health Care, a U.S. operator of cancer treatment and dialysis centers. As a condition for its approval, the European Union is asking Zeneca to return the license for an anesthetic to Britain's Chiroscience Group PLC, due to concerns that Zeneca's merger with Astra, which sells two anesthetics of its own, would hinder competition. To further satisfy EU authorities, Zeneca will set up a third-party distribution network in Sweden and Norway for its beta blocker Tenormin. Astra, for its part, has been told to sell off its European beta blocker and diuretic combination drug business. AP-NY-03-01-99 1334EST