Marks Electrical Share Discussion Threads

[maywillow] 06/9/2005 14:53

Merrill Cuts Actelion To Sell From Neutral

Tuesday, September 06, 2005 10:11:55 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



1349 GMT [Dow Jones]--Merrill Lynch downgrades Actelion (ATLN.EB) to sell from neutral, saying market is overly optimistic about prospects for PAH drug Tracleer. Tracleer is going to stay number-one, says Merrill, but with increasing competition, sales will peak in '08. Were Tracleer to work in pulmonary fibrosis, shares could have considerable upside. But Merrill says Tracleer is unlikely to show clinical benefit in this indication, with next clinical data expected in December. Sees fair value at CHF136. Actelion trades -3% at CHF143.60. (KAB)

[maywillow] 05/9/2005 11:14

Actelion Drug News Should Support Share

Monday, September 05, 2005 6:21:55 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



1015 GMT [Dow Jones]--Actelion (ATLN.EB) positive study on long-term safety of flagship drug Tracleer is good news, Bryan Garnier says. "We do not expect a significant raise in the share price, but this news should continue to support the strong momentum of the shares," brokerage says. Confirms buy rating and a CHF150 price target. Trades -0.1% at CHF147.90. (MGE)

[maywillow] 04/9/2005 16:11

New blood pressure drugs plus statins can halve heart attack risk - study

LONDON (AFX) - An Anglo-Swedish study has found the risk of stroke and heart
attacks in people with high blood pressure can be halved by combining new blood
pressure lowering drugs with cholesterol lowering statins.
The final results of the trial, which was conducted in the UK, Ireland and
Scandinavia, showed that by taking a combination of two new hypertension drugs
the risk of stroke was reduced by about 25 pct, coronaries by 15 pct,
cardiovascular deaths by 25 pct and new cases of diabetes by 30 pct, compared
with the standard treatment.
The new drugs used in the study were amlodipine made by Pfizer Inc and
perindopril made by France's privately held Servier. They were compared with the
traditional treatment of a beta-blocker and a diuretic, which are off patent and
made generically.
The addition of a statin -- the study used Pfizor's Lipitor -- found that
risk was further reduced, irrespective of the patient's original cholesterol
level.
The study could give a boost to the reputation of statins, made by companies
including AstraZeneca PLC and Merck Inc, damaged in the last year by links with
increased risks of muscle toxicity and kidney failure.
The investigators believe that international recommendations for managing
high blood pressure may need to be reviewed and suggest that most patients with
hypertension should also be considered for a cholesterol lowering drug.
Britain's advisory body the National Institute of Clinical Excellence
announced it has decided to review its hypertension guidelines in light of the
results.
The Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT) is the largest study
of high blood pressure treatment ever conducted in Europe, and included more
than 19,000 men and women with high blood pressure who were at a moderate risk
of strokes and heart attacks.
"Compared with patients receiving standard blood pressure lowering
therapy... the combination of the contemporary blood pressure lowering drugs,
amlodipine and perindopril, plus effective lowering of cholesterol abolished
about half the risk of strokes and heart attacks - the most important causes of
death in millions of men and women with high blood pressure," co-chairman of the
ASCOT Steering Committee, Professor Peter Sever of Imperial College, London,
said in a statement.
[e-mail]
ab/cml

[ariane] 31/8/2005 16:24

FDA CoTherix Move Good For Actelion - WestLB

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 7:23:31 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



1112 GMT [Dow Jones]--FDA grants CoTherix (CTRX) expanded label use in Ventavis with Actelion's (ATLN.EB) Tracleer for PAH. Move underlines view that Tracleer is and will be standard drug for PAH, says WestLB. Sees Tracleer not only benefitting from market trends in combination drug use in PAH, but also see market entry hurdles rising for other treatments in development, Encysive's (ENCY) Thelin and Myogen's (MYOG) Ambrisentan. WestLB rates Actelion at outperform, target is CHF155. Shares +1% at CHF143.20. (KAB)

[ariane] 28/8/2005 10:32

Merck needs radical surgery

The maker of the controversial drug Vioxx has plenty of other headaches, writes Heather Connon

Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer


Can Merck survive the Vioxx disaster? On the face of it, the claims sound big enough to send even the most robust of companies into bankruptcy. Some analysts estimate that they could add up to at least $50 billion (£27.7bn), 200 times the $253.4 million the Texas courts awarded to a widow whose husband died after taking its painkiller.
Add in the legal bills - and, with Merck appealing the Texas decision and apparently determined to battle it out against the queue of cases following it, these could quickly run into tens of billions - and you quickly use up the $9bn or so of cash it generated last year.

But the tobacco industry, which has been fighting far more claims for two decades longer than Merck, has demonstrated that legal action, no matter how expensive, is rarely fatal.

That does not mean Merck will escape the litigation unscathed however: the Vioxx affair could prove the catalyst for significant changes both at the company and in the industry as a whole.

The case may have thrust Merck into the headlines, but it is simply the most potent symbol of the troubles which have afflicted the New Jersey-based company. While the Texas judgment may have knocked 8 per cent off its share price, the real damage was done at the start of the decade: between 2001 and 2003, the company lost a third of its market value and its price now is less than a third of the 2001 peak.

Last year, its net income fell 15 per cent to $5.8bn, below the level achieved in 1999. While that was partly due to the cost of withdrawing Vioxx last September, and setting up a $604m fund for fighting legal action over the drug, its income fell in 2002 and 2003 as well - both years in which the painkiller and osteoarthritis treatment was more than fulfilling its blockbuster potential.

Blockbuster drugs are becoming harder to find now that most of the major therapeutic areas are covered, and the regulatory and other costs of getting them to market have soared - but Merck has suffered more than most.

For much of the Eighties and Nineties, it was the most admired drug company. For seven years running, it held the crown as the world's most admired company. While others merged and demerged, switched management teams and went on drug-buying sprees, Merck preferred to rely on its own formidable research and managerial talent.

It was a successful strategy: Merck held on to its position as the biggest drugs company despite mergers such as Glaxo's with Wellcome and then Smith Klein Beecham; in five glorious years during the Nineties, it launched no fewer than 15 blockbuster drugs to treat everything from hypertension to Aids.

More recently, however, the pipeline has been much thinner. Even before the abrupt withdrawal of Vioxx - which had grown to be a $2.5bn-a-year drug during five years on the market - it was anticipating next year's loss of patent protection on Zocor, its cholesterol-lowering drug, which accounts for $5bn of sales.

Like many of its rivals, it spent too long in blind alleys, excited by the potential for innovation following the mapping of the human genome, the potential of which is still years, if not decades, from being realised.

While its rivals have been refilling their pipelines through deals with biotech companies and licensing agreements - such as Roche's Avastin and Tarceva targeted cancer products - Merck, says Mike Ward, an analyst at healthcare specialist Core Securities, still pursued a strategy of 'If it is not grown at Merck, it is not in the policy'.

That has been changing, albeit slowly. Ward points out that, over the past year, it has licensed 40 new products and the signs are that Richard Clark, promoted from within to be its new chief executive just after the Vioxx disaster last year, is willing to be more innovative.

In an interview not long after his appointment, he said: 'We have sound financial footing. So if we need to do mergers and acquisitions, we have the ability to do that. I don't want to give anyone the impression we're not open to good ideas.'

Even without the Vioxx disaster it would have been an uphill battle. Merck has already slipped into third place in the league and rivals such as Pfizer are openly searching for biotech and other acquisitions and slashing their costs.

And drug companies are much more prominent in the US than here, actively promoting their wares directly to the public. They may take some time to get over the shock that Merck was not only promoting a painkiller which caused heart attacks but, according to some critics, failed to act quickly enough when the first evidence of that emerged.

It is also likely to have an impact on the regulatory process. Vioxx was not the first drug to be pulled - around a dozen others have suffered the same fate in the last 10 years or so - but it was the most established. Usually, withdrawals occur shortly after new drugs are first prescribed, as unexpected side effects and other glitches appear. Vioxx had been on the market for five years and many users - Merck estimates there were 20 million in the US alone - were extremely happy with its efficacy.

The Texas court case has shone a brighter spotlight on the processes of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US regulator responsible for approving all new drugs. There are certainly signs that it was more lenient with Merck than with others: Merrill Lynch has calculated that the company gained $3.3bn between 1995 and 2001 alone because of its faster track through the regulatory hurdles than its rivals.

The FDA has been under considerable political pressure since the Vioxx withdrawal, with one of its former executives, David Graham, leading the charge. It is now taking more time to consider new drug applications, particularly for innovative products or those in new therapeutic areas.

'There is a concern that the FDA will become increasingly safety conscious, making it even more difficult to get drugs to market,' said Ward.

With drugs taking between 10 and 12 years, and $800m, from discovery to prescribing, any increase would be most unwelcome.

[grupo guitarlumber] 22/8/2005 21:00

Kill or cure for the drug business?

Aug 22nd 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda


An American jury has awarded huge damages against Merck for a death associated with Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug that the firm withdrew last year. Further hefty awards against Merck and other big drug firms could cause great pain but might help to change the way they do business to the benefit of consumers










THE public's attitude to the world's leading drug companies has always been somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand they expect "Big Pharma" to deliver ever more effective cures for the ills that beset them; on the other they decry the vast profits that the industry makes as in some way exploitative. On Friday August 19th a handful of Texans did what they could to tip the balance back towards the consumer.

By a majority of ten to two, a jury in Angleton, a small town near Houston, decided that Merck, one of America's largest drug companies, was liable for the death of Robert Ernst. Mr Ernst died in May 2001 of a heart condition that the jury concluded had been brought on by Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug manufactured by Merck. Vioxx was withdrawn in September 2004 after a study showed that the product raised the risk of heart attacks in some patients. The jury awarded Mr Ernst's widow $253m, mainly comprising punitive damages, having decided that Merck was well aware of the potential risks associated with the drug. One document suggested that the firm was alerted to the troubling side-effects of Vioxx as long ago as 1997, two years before it came to market.

The decision could have unpleasant consequences for Merck. If its liability is upheld on appeal, Texan law will automatically restrict damages to around a tenth of the jury's award. But this will come as little comfort for Merck as more than 4,000 other suits have already been filed in America, and hundreds of others are expected from overseas. In total, some 20m patients have been prescribed Vioxx around the world.

Merck has promised to fight every one of these lawsuits, but if several more cases go against it the firm might conclude that it is easier and cheaper to make settlements. Estimates of the total payout Merck faces go as high as $20 billion. That would be a terrible blow, even for a company with profits of $6 billion last year. Merck's market capitalisation has fallen by about $38 billion since Vioxx was withdrawn.



Headaches all round
The scale of Merck's problems will spread alarm through an industry that has seen both its reputation and money-making potential take several heavy hits of late. Many of the ailments that afflict the big drug firms are a result of changes in the industry that began in the early 1990s. Most importantly, the advent of the blockbuster drugs on which Big Pharma relies also ushered in an era in which the focus shifted to profit-maximisation through heavy marketing, sometimes at the expense of scientific inquiry.

By some measures, this shift has done wonders for the big drugmakers-worldwide sales have nearly doubled since 1997 to around $500 billion. But in recent years sales growth has declined compared with the boom years of the 1990s. The "pipeline" of potential blockbusters has started to dry up, while competition from the generic drug firms that produce copycat versions of patented medicines has intensified.

At the same time, a slew of safety fears, including those over Vioxx, has further sullied the industry's reputation. Pfizer faces lawsuits over Bextra, a drug whose active ingredient, like Vioxx's, is COX-2 inhibitors. Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will have to decide the future of the COX-2 drugs in their pipelines. Eli Lilly recently reached a $690m settlement with thousands of users of Zyprexa, its schizophrenia drug. GSK could also face legal challenges over Seroxat: on August 22nd, new findings suggested previous warnings that the anti-depressant increased the risk of suicide among teenagers should be extended to adults.

The trial in Texas highlighted the efforts drug companies will go to in order to boost their profits and grab market share. America, which accounts for some 40% of global drug sales, introduced legislation in 1997 that allowed direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals. Since then, the sums spent there on promotional advertising have more than trebled to around $19 billion a year, while research-and-development (R&D) budgets generally lag some way behind. Drug firms now use an array of promotional techniques to encourage doctors to prescribe their products. The jury in Texas disagreed with Merck's assertion that it had marketed Vioxx responsibly. The jurors were convinced that the firm knew of the heart risks associated with Vioxx but was reluctant to admit to them for fear that sales would falter.

The accepted practice in the drugs industry of not publishing bad test results has faced challenges of late. Last year, GSK settled a lawsuit over Seroxat with Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney-general. Mr Spitzer accused the firm of suppressing data showing a link between its product and teenage suicide. Since then, other drug firms have followed GSK's lead and begun to publish the results of clinical trails on the internet.

Increased openness by Big Pharma is a step in the right direction towards responsible marketing. If more juries follow up the decision in Texas with big awards, drug companies are likely to reassess the aggressive marketing of new drugs as soon as they come to market. They may also want to rethink their heavy reliance on a small, and perhaps dwindling, supply of blockbusters.

[grupo guitarlumber] 22/8/2005 20:31

Merck may face French class action over Vioxx - lawyer

PARIS (AFX) - Patients' associations will hold talks in September or October
on whether to attempt a class action in France against Merck and Co Inc over its
Vioxx drug, a specialist lawyer said.
Jean-Marc Goldnadel, who also runs a website explaining how to bring a class
action, told Agence France-Presse: "We are going to have another look at the
case."
A US judge awarded the widow of a Vioxx victim 253.4 mln usd Friday and
according to yesterday's UK press, relatives of as many as 2,000 British victims
could start a potential multi- billion-dollar suit.
Goldnadel said until now "we didn't see any possibility of starting a
successful action, but in the light of a legal ruling" talks with possible
plaintiffs will start.
He said he agreed a September or October starting date when he spoke two
months ago to Georges-Alexandre Imbert, chairman of the AAVAM association of
patients who have suffered through taking medicines.
[e-mail]
mrg/ec

[narkymark] 19/8/2005 22:02

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[narkymark] 19/8/2005 21:58

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[grupo guitarlumber] 10/8/2005 07:59

Goldman Lifts Actelion Fair Value To CHF201

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 3:37:51 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0715 GMT [Dow Jones] Goldman lifts Actelion (ATLN.EB) fair value to CHF201 from CHF197 after company releases study results of flagship Tracleer in digital ulceration. Statistical significance and fact that results are consistent with first study means Actelion can submit this indication to FDA. Goldman estimates this will add between CHF50M and CHF100M in peak sales. Beyond that, results also raise the bar for potentially competing therapies like Encysive's (ENCY) Thelin, which hasn't yet been tested in digital ulceration. Rates outperform. Shares +1.4% at CHF139.80. (KAB)

[grupo guitarlumber] 09/8/2005 21:24

Lombard Odier Ups Actelion Target Price

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 5:23:36 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0907 GMT [Dow Jones]--Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch raises Actelion (ATLN.EB) price target to CHF163 from CHF160 after new study shows that its main drug Tracleer reduces digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis. LODH says this adds an additional CHF50M to peak sales estimates. Expects FDA approval for this new indication at the end of this year. Keeps buy rating. Actelion +0.7% at CHF137.90. (SWZ)

[grupo guitarlumber] 09/8/2005 14:17

Actelion RAPIDS-2 Study Modestly Good News

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 4:52:19 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0840 GMT [Dow Jones]--Actelion's (ATLN.EB) RAPIDS-2 study is "modestly good news," says CSFB. However notes limited potential number of digital ulceration patients that might be prescribed Tracleer. Additionally sees risk of company not receiving label extension for DU, particularly in US, because drug had no impact on time to healing. CSFB says stock reaction likely to be modest, given recent good run, modest commercial size of indication, slightly ambitious headline clinical results. Keeps shares rated outperform. Shares +0.7% at CHF138. (HJS)

[grupo guitarlumber] 09/8/2005 08:19

Actelion Study Could Help Tracleer Use

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 2:02:15 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0554 GMT [Dow Jones] Actelion's (ATLN.EB) RAPIDS-2 study is good news, says Kepler Equities analyst Denise Anderson. "The indication itself is quite small, but it could help selling the drug to the primary patient group." Says doctors might decide to screen for pulmonary arterial hypertension when treating a patient for an open sore, as both occur in systemic sclerosis patients. Keeps buy, target CHF180. Shares closed at CHF137. (HJS)

[grupo guitarlumber] 29/7/2005 09:14

Lombard Ups Actelion To Buy From Hold

Friday, July 29, 2005 4:36:59 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires




0817 GMT [Dow Jones] Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch raises Actelion (ATLN.EB) to buy from hold and increases price target to CHF160 from CHF147 after company released strong 2Q earnings and raised FY05 outlook on Thursday. Trades -0.1% at CHF138.80. (AAG)

[grupo guitarlumber] 29/7/2005 09:11

Goldman Sachs Ups Actelion Target

Friday, July 29, 2005 3:36:54 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires




0723 GMT [Dow Jones]--Goldman Sachs lifts Actelion (ATLN.EB) fair value to CHF197 from CHF195 as "several factors suggest that full-year forecasts have more upside potential than downside." Says company entering a 6-month period where R&D newsflow will be significant, probably resulting in a significant positive impact on sales both in short and long term. GS says this growth isn't adequately reflected in current share price. Keeps rated outperform. Trades +0.1% at CHF139.20. (SWZ)

[grupo guitarlumber] 29/7/2005 06:26

UBS Raises Actelion Target Price, Keeps Buy

Friday, July 29, 2005 2:16:57 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires




0601 GMT [Dow Jones] UBS raises Actelion (ATLN.EB) target price to CHF161 from CHF156, maintains buy rating. Company's new full-year sales and operating profit targets of CHF600M-CHF615M and CHF125M-CHF135M, respectively, are in line with bank's estimates. Pipeline will be of key interest on September 8 research and development day. Shares closed at CHF139. (MGE)

[grupo guitarlumber] 28/7/2005 15:13

CSFB Keeps Actelion At Outperform

Thursday, July 28, 2005 4:22:05 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0813 GMT [Dow Jones] CSFB reiterates Actelion (ATLN.EB) at outperform with CHF160 target price after company posts strong 2Q. Besides a solid set of numbers, fact that FY guidance was upgraded is very reassuring, CSFB adds. Shares +0.7% at CHF142. (GOM)

[maywillow] 27/7/2005 09:28

Actelion's FDA Warning Doesn't Worry Kepler

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 5:07:06 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0850 GMT [Dow Jones]--Kepler Equities isn't concerned about FDA warning letter from FDA to Actelion's (ATLN.EB) regarding Actelion's flagship product Tracleer. Analyst Denise Anderson sees no serious issues, doesn't anticipate impact on Tracleer sales. Reaffirms buy rating. Trades +0.7% at CHF139.50. (MGE)

[waldron] 22/7/2005 17:09

EARNINGS PREVIEW: Actelion 2Q Net Seen More Than Doubling

Friday, July 22, 2005 11:52:06 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



1537 GMT [Dow Jones] Actelion (ATLN.EB) expected Thursday at 0500 GMT to say that 2Q net profit more than doubled to CHF25M from CHF11.3M, driven by 28% increase in revenue to CHF146M from CHF114M, according to average estimate of three analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Analysts will focus on performance of drug Tracleer, which is contributing the bulk of revenue but is difficult to forecast due to lack of prescription data. (AAG)

[waldron] 21/7/2005 07:39

Merck 2Q Illustrates Conglomerate Downside

Thursday, July 21, 2005 3:21:47 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0711 GMT [Dow Jones] Merck KGaA's (MRK.XE) 2Q sales came in well ahead of Nomura's expectations, driven by stronger-than-expected overall performance and a weaker dollar. However, operating profits were weaker than anticipated due to high sales and marketing costs, hike in R&D spending, and drop in LCD, pigments profitability. Says results illustrate downside of operating as a conglomerate: chemicals are a drag on earnings, albeit a probable one, while pharma is powering ahead. Retains neutral rating. Trades -3.2% at EUR67. (JEL)