Pfizer Loosing $ Ground on Celebrex & Vioxx!!

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December 17, 2004

Pfizer Says Painkiller Tied to Increased Risk of Heart Attack

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

Filed at 10:40 a.m. ET

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Pfizer Inc. says it has found an

increased risk of heart attacks with patients taking

its top-selling painkiller Celebrex, a drug that is in

the same class as Vioxx, which was pulled from the

market in September because of safety concerns.

 

Pfizer announced Friday that it found the increased

risk in one of two long-term cancer prevention trials,

while the other trial showed no increased risk.

 

The National Cancer Institute, which was conducting

the study for Pfizer, suspended the use of Celebrex

after finding that patients taking 400mg to 800mg

of the drug daily were found to have a risk of 2.5

times greater of experiencing major heart problems

than those who weren't. A separate cancer study

found no increased heart risk with patients taking

400mg of Celebrex per day.

 

Pfizer was conducting the trials as part of an effort

to find a new application for the drug.

 

The news sent the stock of the giant pharmaceutical

maker plunging in morning trading on the New York

Stock Exchange, where its shares were down $4.14,

or more than 14 percent, at $24.84 in heavy volume.

 

Both Celebrex and Vioxx, which is made by Merck & Co.,

are a type of drug called cox-2 inhibitors, which have

become popular because of their effectiveness in

treating the pain of arthritis and other ailments.

 

Celebrex is the most-prescribed drug for treating

arthritis. In the nine months ending in September,

worldwide sales of Celebrex more than doubled

from the same period a year earlier to $2.29 billion,

accounting for 6 percent of Pfizer's total income of

$37.59 billion.

 

Pfizer did not indicate that it was withdrawing Celebrex

from the marketplace.

 

The withdrawal of Vioxx has been a financial and

public relations disaster for Merck. Its legal liabilities

are estimated at up to $18 billion, and its shares have

dropped by nearly one-third since the recall announcement

was made in late September.

 

Vioxx had been a blockbuster drug for Merck, it's

No. 2 earner with annual global sales of $2.5 billion,

amounting to 11 percent of the company's $22.49 billion

in revenue last year. Some 2 million people worldwide

had been taking Vioxx.

 

Dr. Joseph Feczko, president of worldwide development

for Pfizer, noted that the results in the trial finding

increased risk of heart attacks were not consistent

with either the other cancer prevention trial or with

a " large body of data " that the company had collected.

 

" Pfizer is taking immediate steps to fully understand

the results and rapidly communicate new information to

regulators, physicians and patients around the world, "

Pfizer's chief executive Hank McKinnell said in a

statement

 

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration

said it was adding a warning to the labels of another

Pfizer drug, Bextra, noting a risk of potential heart

problems associated with the use of Bextra in people

who have recently had heart bypass surgery. Bextra

is also a cox-2 inhibitor type of drug.

 

 

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