SPECIAL REPORT

Healthy Horizons
A brand new series of weekly segments which will explore the macro and micro issues facing the global economy.

LATEST FROM OUR BLOGS

» More

- Portfolio Prep for Next Week: 'Don't Get Crazy'

MORE HEADLINES

» Markets | Economy | Companies

- Abu Dhabi Will Aid Debt-Fraught Dubai 'Case by Case'

PHARMA'S MARKET VIDEO

» More

Sebelius on Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Discussing whether a new $487M investment from the government will help speed up the production of the most important vaccines, with Kathy Sebelius, Health & Human Services secretary and CNBC's Mike Huckman.

The New Formula for Faster Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Novartis is opening on Tuesday the country's first plant to produce flu vaccines using cell cultures. These vaccines are faster, better and cheaper to make than egg-based methods, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Novartis Opens 1st US Plant for Flu Vaccine

24 Nov 2009

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 16 Nov 2009
Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. CNBC's Mike Huckman has the details.

Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic, shares his reaction with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure

16 Nov 2009

A new study is putting Merck's cholesterol drugs under pressure today, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman, with Ken Frazier, Merck Global Human Health president.

RSS FEED

» Help

Subscribe to this RSS feed
Stay up to date with Pharma's Market.

CNBC ON DIGG

Pharma's Market

Text Size

Apr.09

9:57 AM ET

Wednesday, 9 Apr 2008

Merck And SGP's Vytorin/Zetia: Doctors Writing Fewer Scripts?

Posted By:Mike Huckman

Topics:Stock Market | Medicine | Pharmaceuticals

Sectors:Health Care Equipment and Services | Health Care | Pharmaceuticals

Companies:ASTRAZENECA PLC | Schering Plough Corp | Merck & Co Inc | Pfizer Inc

CNBC.com
CNBC and other media outlets have done a significant amount of reporting on cardiologists' reaction to the Vytorin/Zetia study and the effect the ACC panel's opinion might have on the heart doctors' prescription writing.

But what about the work-a-day primary care physicians who actually write the overwhelming majority (an estimated 75 percent) of the scripts for cholesterol-lowering drugs?

Well, Deutsche Bank this morning is out with the results of a survey it did involving 101 PCPs. And it doesn't look good for MRK [MRK Loading... () ] and SGP [SGP Loading... () ]. AstraZeneca [AZN Loading... () ] , though, may come through smelling like a rose.

DB's big pharma analyst Barbara Ryan writes in the research note to clients: "These datapoints suggest both additional abrupt and sustained declines for Vytorin and Zetia and increased utilization of other statins, especially Crestor." AZN makes Crestor and last week it ended one study early because the drug worked so well.

The Detusche poll shows that on average Vytorin scripts will fall from 16 percent market share to nine percent. And Zetia's piece will drop from nine-and-a-half percent to six percent. Overall, Ryan expects a total Vytorin and Zetia "unit decline" of 32 percent this year.