Merck predicts Vytorin gains from Zocor defectors
NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Merck & Co (MRK.N) on Thursday said the company's Vytorin cholesterol fighter will likely get a future sales boost as patients fail to adequately benefit from less-potent but far cheaper generic forms of the company's older Zocor treatment.
Generic forms of Zocor flooded the market in mid-2006 after Merck lost U.S. patent protection on the widely used member of the "statin" family of cholesterol fighters, slowing Vytorin's previously stellar sales growth.
Schering-Plough Corp SGP.N, which co-markets Vytorin, on Thursday predicted Vytorin's U.S. market share would continue to moderate -- although its sales would likely grow overseas, where the drug has not been available as long.
Merck Chief Executive Richard Clark, while not providing sales forecasts, later on Thursday said he was optimistic Vytorin would be helped in the United States as patients now taking generic Zocor fail to drive their levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol down to recommended levels.
"It takes a period of time to be on a generic to see if they reach goal," Clark said at a Morgan Stanley investor meeting being held in New York. "I think there's another tranche coming our way." Moreover, Clark said Vytorin and Zetia, another cholesterol fighter co-marketed by Schering-Plough, are "well positioned" for reimbursement by insurers.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
((Reuters Messaging: ransdell.pierson.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646-223-6034; ransdell.pierson@reuters.com)) Keywords: MERCK/VYTORIN
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