Prescriptions For Merck Cholesterol Drugs Dropped Last Week
By Peter Loftus, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
U.S. prescription volumes for Merck & Co.'s (MRK) cholesterol drugs Zetia and
Vytorin took a hit last week, while Abbott Laboratories' (ABT) Niaspan got a
boost from clinical trial results that favored Niaspan over Zetia, according to
a market research firm.
Some users of Merck's drugs appeared to be switching to Niaspan, and Niaspan
trends among brand new patients were more favorable than those for the Merck
drugs, according to numbers provided to Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday by
health-data tracker SDI, of Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
"There's a lot of switching taking place," said Timothy McGee, associate
director of client solutions and syndicated analytics at SDI.
Researchers in the Abbott-funded "Arbiter 6" study announced Nov. 15 at a
cardiology conference that Niaspan helped reverse narrowing of the arteries in
heart patients, while Zetia users saw no significant changes. The data
reinforced doubts about the efficacy of the Merck drugs--doubts that have hurt
their sales since early 2008. Merck has defended the drugs' efficacy and safety.
The effect of the study on prescription trends was swift, according to the SDI
data. Total U.S. Zetia prescriptions for the week ended Nov. 20 declined 8.5%
from the previous week to about 151,100, while Vytorin was down 5.2% at about
163,600. Vytorin is a single-pill combination of Zetia and the drug simvastatin.
In contrast, total Niaspan prescriptions last week rose 2.6% from the previous
week to about 107,360, SDI said.
Total U.S. prescription volumes for all cholesterol drugs contracted 2.6% for
the week ended Nov. 20, versus the week before. Such week-to-week fluctuations
are common.
The differences between Niaspan and the Merck drugs were even more pronounced
among two subsets of patients: those who got a brand new prescription last week
and hadn't taken any other cholesterol drug in the previous 12 months; and those
who got a new prescription last week but had taken a different cholesterol drug
in the previous 12 months.
SDI said these breakdowns of the data can help show whether a specific event,
such as the presentation of new clinical-trial results, is causing switches
among brands for existing patients or shifting trends among new patients.
Niaspan prescriptions among new patients who hadn't taken any cholesterol drug
in the previous 12 months rose 33.8% from the previous week, while prescriptions
on that basis for Zetia dropped 24% and were down 16.8% for Vytorin. New Niaspan
prescriptions among people who had taken a different cholesterol drug in the
previous 12 months rose 45.6% from the week before, while Zetia declined 27.4%
and Vytorin dropped 23.7% on similar bases.
Merck spokesman Ron Rogers said the company isn't familiar with the SDI data,
and that it would be "premature" to gauge the impact of the Arbiter 6 study on
market trends. He noted that Merck executives said in October U.S. prescription
market share declines for the company's cholesterol drugs appeared to be
stabilizing.
Abbott spokeswoman Laureen Cassidy declined immediate comment, saying the
company hadn't seen the SDI data.
Abbott's Niaspan sales rose 6.4% to $601 million for the first nine months of
2009. Merck reported combined Zetia and Vytorin sales for that period of $3
billion, down 13.8% from a year earlier.
Merck shares fell 55 cents to $35.87 in recent trading. Abbott rose $1.23 to $
54.36.
-Peter Loftus; Dow Jones Newswires; 215-656-8289; peter.loftus@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-24-091342ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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