Five drugs push Merck & Co sales up 25%

22 July 2001

Merck & Co reports that turnover grew 25% to $11.9 billion for thesecond quarter of 2001, with net income up 5% to $1.82 billion and earnings per share rising 7% to $0.78. The company notes that its human health sales were driven by five key products which, combined, increased 27% in the quarter. It also says that its Merck Medco pharmacy management business drove second-quarter sales 48%, though actual turnover is not given.

The lipid-lowerer Zocor (simvastatin) recorded sales of $1.36 billion, a rise of just 5%. However, Merck noted at an analysts' conference that wholesalers' stocking of the drug in the first quarter reduced their need to replenish supplies in the second. Vioxx (rofecoxib), which the firm says is the only COX-2 selective agent in the USA indicated for both osteoarthritis and acute pain, achieved sales of $725 million for the quarter, an increase of 52.6% on the like, year-earlier period. In April, Merck filed a supplemental New Drug Application for Vioxx with the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of adult rheumatoid arthritis.

The antihypertensives Cozaar (losartan) and Hyzaar (losartan plus hydrochlorothiazide) rose 32.5% to $510 million, while Fosamax (alendronate) "continues to strengthen its position as the leading product worldwide for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis," with turnover up 40% at $490 million, according to Merck. Fosamax gained regulatory approval in Japan, the world's second-largest prescription medicines market, in June, and it will be commercialized there by Merck's subsidiary Banyu as Fosamac and Teijin as Bonalon. A launch in Japan is forecast for the third quarter of this year.

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