[movies]

Merck announced a recall of the arthritis drug Vioxx today.  The drug accounted for $2.5 billion in sales last year (about 11% of Merck sales overall).  Merck stock was down 26% this morning.  Apparently clinical trials found that there is a greatly increased risk of heart attack and stroke when Vioxx has been used for 18 months or more.  There was further interest in Vioxx since it was being investigated for possible use to fight certain types of cancer.  Those plans have been scrapped.

Here is a full story:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=3&u=/ap/20040930/ap_on_bi_ge/arthritis_drug_recall


This could have a big effect on the future of the job market for chemists in the pharmaceutical industry.  I have heard that this may also affect a similar drug that is still in the midst of preliminary clinical trials (and has not yet hit the market).  It may also cause other pharmaceutical companies that market similar drugs to announce a recall as well, but this remains to be seen.  Pfizer stands to benefit from this finding, as their drug Celebrex is the principle alternative to Vioxx.

[Mitch]

The one nice thing about the downturn is that Merck is super-affordable now. Merck only has a P/E of 13 now, while Merck has a P/E of 34. For every dollar you invest in Merck you get over twice it's value than if you invested in pfizer.

Affordable being a realitive term since it's still $33 dollars a share and still is somewhat foreboding to the small investor.

[movies]

It's still risky to invest in Merck though.  They need another blockbuster drug soon.  Their patent on Zocor (their #1 seller) is up in 2006.

[Mitch]

Merck has a stock value of $73billion. I'm sure one little drug will not affect their overall "future" profitabillity. But, they do need to start developing more drugs for market.

[Demotivator]

True story:
The day before the news came out, I was debating as to whether to buy Merck or pfizer, seeing both substantially down.  I decided on pfizer  because it had the better  growth outlook for it's products. Now, I was shocked that I narrowly escaped a "minor" disaster, yet amused that pfizer went up on the news. I sold pfizer, regardless, having decided there are better places to invest. Besides, the same thing can happen to celebrex if a thorough study is made on it.  

[Mitch]

Congratulations, pfizer was the smarter choice. Merck has always had to play catch-up to pfizer. But, Merck just has that attractive 3.1% dividend.

I've always liked long-shots, but I never did invest in Merck.

[movies]

Pfizer is the biggest pharma company now, aren't they?  Anybody know where the others rank behind Pfizer?

[Mitch]

Well pfizer is worth 231billion by stock. Although, earnings is a really a better measure for a question like that and I can't look up earnings reports at the moment.

[Donaldson Tan]

how abt GSK?

[Mitch]

cartoon

[jdurg]

Hehe.  I find that cartoon kind of funny just because I deal with the FDA on a near daily basis.  I work for a Clinical Research Organization, and the FDA makes my life a living hell with all their rules and regulations for the recording/reporting of data.