Quotes from the Health Summit: Wednesday

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Following are selected quotes from executives speaking at the Reuters Health Summit, being held in New York through November 20.

GREG WASSON, PRESIDENT AND COO OF WALGREEN

On the impact the weak economy is having on prescription drug sales:

"There are going to be folks unfortunately who skip a pill, split a pill or don't go to the doctor to get a prescription. That's what we're seeing.

"Somebody may decide, 'Well, I'll take (cholesterol-lowering drugs) every other day. Maybe it'll be half as effective, but at least I'm still on it.'"

"I would not want to be a high-end retailer today. I'm glad we're selling prescription drugs and toothpaste and low-end gifts that are high quality."

RON WILLIAMS, CEO OF AETNA

On when Aetna's shares will rebound:

"Hope springs eternal. Every morning I have high expectations, and then I confront the reality of what happens at 4 o'clock."

RICHARD CLARK, CEO OF MERCK

On whether men will get Merck's Gardasil vaccine, designed for women, to protect against the human papilloma virus, or HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world:

"We're counting on mothers. Mothers are the key to this."

ARTHUR HIGGINS, CEO OF BAYER HEALTHCARE

On innovation:

"I think the tendency is, when you're short of ideas, to go for a quick fix. It's a little like myself and a sugar rush. I feel good for about 10 minutes, then I wish I'd never taken the sugar. I can't see any logic in combining two poorly performing businesses when, at the heart what keeps it sustainable is innovation. And there's no relationship between scale and innovation.

"I'm going to be a little careful that I don't come in like a lot of executives who are really creating this continued death spiral. If we all say the world is going to end tomorrow, the world may end tomorrow."

TREVOR MUNDEL, DESIGNATED HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT AT NOVARTIS

On deals:

"There is the opportunity, from what I've seen, to do some very interesting deals. I think that with the new circumstances, the drying up of venture capital, a lot of these biotechs are open to pretty interesting and risk mitigating deal structures."

FRED HASSAN, CEO OF SCHERING-Plow

On a leveraged balance sheet:

"We as an industry have been criticized in the past for being very conservative with our balance sheets. This is a time when our previous financial policies are starting to be looked at as a positive because we do not have leverage that is now becoming a source of pressure for many other industries."

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/))

(Reporting by debra.sherman@thomsonreuters.com; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)