Merck & Co predicts more NDA filings in 2007 and highlights strong drug pipeline

At its annual business briefing in New York, US drug major Merck & Co outlined the strategy it will use to "reclaim its leadership position in the pharmaceutical industry." The presentation, which was led by company president Richard Clark, detailed to analysts and investors, the group's program for future growth, and placed heavy emphasis on the importance of its product pipeline.

Three NDAs to be filed with FDA in 2007

Merck, which currently has the diabetes treatment Janumet (combined sitagliptin phosphate and metformin), the chemotherapy-induced nausea therapy Emend IV (aprepitant) and the osteoarthritis drug Arcoxia (etoricoxib) under Food and Drug Administration review, said it would be seeking regulatory approval, in the next 12 months, for three additional products that are currently in late-stage development. These are: the first-in-class HIV integrase inhibitor MK-0518, which brought about significant reductions in viral load in earlier clinical trials (Marketletter October 9, 2006); MK-0524A, an extended-release niacin and combined flushing pathway inhibitor product, under development as a therapy for dyslipidemia; and, despite delays to patient enrollment in an ongoing trial, the novel insomnia treatment gaboxadol that Merck is co-developing with Danish drugmaker H Lundbeck AS (Marketletter October 23, 2006).