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Biotech / Medical : Merck -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Malloy who wrote (1173)	4/20/1999 6:03:00 AM
From: Brian Malloy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580

"From Wall Street's point of view, analysts will be watching to see if the drug's potency and safety profile is better than recently launched rival Celebrex. "If it's safer, it will offer greater flexibility for chronic care," said Alex Zisson, an analyst at Hambrecht & Quist. The drug is likely to have advantages for arthritis patients and other sufferers of chronic pain, who have to take regular doses over long periods of time. Jack Lamberton, an analyst at HSBC Securities said he expects a "very positive" meeting on Tuesday. He said he believes Vioxx could be a "big drug" for Merck. If approved for sale, the painkiller could generate sales of as much as $500 million in 1999 and perhaps as much as $1 billion the following year, Lamberton said. However, the approval of the drug doesn't mean it will easily supplant Celebrex, analysts said. "There's plenty of room for both of these to be billion dollar drugs," Zisson said. He estimates that Celebrex, which has only been on the market for 13 weeks, could have sales of as much as $600 million to $700 million this year." cbs.marketwatch.com