By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov 16 (Reuters) - The good news for Merck & Co's (MRK.N) Zetia cholesterol fighter is that doctors do not seem unduly concerned about its latest setback in a clinical trial. The bad news is they think patient anxiety will cause its sales to drop anyway.
Physicians interviewed after release of data from a small study in which Abbott Laboratories' (ABT.N) Niaspan appeared to be safer and more effective than Zetia, see more use of Niaspan and other long-acting niacins to boost good HDL cholesterol. And they feel more than ever that Zetia's clinical value must still be proven even though it slashes levels of bad LDL cholesterol.
"I don't think Zetia suffered a body blow today, but it was a cautionary warning. It will give doctors and patients a lot of temporary heartburn," said Dr. Richard Walsh, of the University Hospitals of Cleveland, immediately after the data was formally presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) scientific meeting in Orlando on Monday.
"It certainly suggests the use of niacin is equal to or better than use of Zetia," said Walsh, who expects sales of Zetia and a related cholesterol drug Vytorin to continue declining due to intense media coverage of a third study that has led to questions about its clinical value.
"I think so, because unfortunately we live in a life of sound bites," he said.
Merck shares were up 2.4 percent after analysts played down the importance of the data and said editorials in the New England Journal of Medicine citing limitations of the study would help mute any negative impact.
But doctors said the profile of niacin had been raised as they await a new wave of patient concern over Zetia.
"Real outcomes studies are needed still for Zetia, but these results certainly strengthen the argument that niacin should be used more widely and underscore the fact that Zetia continues to be of uncertain clinical benefit," said Dr. Nathaniel Reichek, director of cardiac imaging at St Francis Hospital, a prominent heart hospital on Long Island in New York. Continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment