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

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (7169)	3/8/1999 8:15:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Prescriptions For Monsanto's Celebrex Continue To Soar March 08, 1999 7:08 PM By Otesa Middleton, Staff Reporter WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The number of prescriptions written for Monsanto Co.'s new arthritis drug Celebrex continues to increase. For the week ended Feb. 26 - its sixth full week on the market - 228,003 prescriptions were written for Celebrex, according to data released Monday by pharmaceutical auditor IMS Health Inc. (RX). That figure is a 39% increase from the 164,459 prescriptions written the previous week. Mail-order prescriptions totaled 10,447 in the latest week, up 54% from week five. Celebrex seems to be on its way to becoming the top-selling drug ever as measured in generating early sales. Market researchers NDC Health Information Services found that in three of the last four days, Celebrex surpassed the total prescriptions generated by Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) impotence drug Viagra at a comparable stage in its marketing cycle, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is the first of a new class of arthritis drugs known as Cox-2 inhibitors. They act against an enzyme, part of the pain process, that is called cyclooxygenase-2, or Cox-2 for short. The Cox-2 drugs have special promise, in the view of many doctors, because clinical data suggest that these medications may not cause damage to patients' gastrointestinal tracts, as current drugs do. The current pain drugs, called NSAIDs for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, lead to bleeding ulcers in a small minority of patients. Bleeding ulcers sometimes are fatal, and doctors have been looking for a gentler medication for chronic treatment of pain. The Food and Drug Administration approved Celebrex Dec. 31 as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. It debuted on the market Jan. 15. Monsanto's (MTC) G.D. Searle & Co. unit, along with Pfizer Inc., launched a concerted sales effort for Celebrex Feb. 22. Merck & Co. (MRK) is preparing to take a competing Cox-2 drug, called Vioxx, before an FDA advisory panel April 20. The panel will make a recommendation to the FDA about whether the drug should be approved for sale in the U.S. Pharmaceutical analyst Prem Lachman of the Galleon Group said he expects more growth out of Celebrex. Because new prescriptions and refills are expanding, Lachman said the drug has plenty of room for additional growth. If Merck's Vioxx is approved, it shouldn't hurt Celebrex much, Lachman said. Almost 16 million Americans have osteoarthritis, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Osteoarthritis causes joint pain and stiffness and mostly affects older people. Fewer people, about 2.1 million Americans, have rheumatoid arthritis, which is an inflammatory disease thought to be caused by an autoimmune disorder. It causes chronic pain, stiffness and swelling and patients can lose function in joints and organs. - Otesa Middleton; 202-862-6654 Copyright (c) 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. smartmoney.com