Celebrex prescriptions plunge 56%

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Celebrex prescriptions plunge 56%

Link to heart attacks and strokes hits Pfizer's shares; rival Abbott up

as customers switch.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/30/news/fortune500/celebrex.reut/index.htm

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New prescriptions for Pfizer Inc.'s arthritis drug

Celebrex fell 56 percent last week after the company released data

showing the drug may increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes,

according to Verispan, a market research company.

New prescriptions for naproxen fell 33 percent in the week ending Dec.

24 after the National Institutes of Health linked it too to possible

heart risks.

" The data reflects the concern that exists among doctors and patients

and is not at all unexpected, " said nn Caprino, a spokeswoman for

Pfizer.

Pfizer shares fell 1 percent in late day trading on the New York Stock

Exchange.

A drug called Mobic, sold by Boehringer Ingelheim and Abbott

Laboratories Inc. are among those picking up patients who are switching

from Celebrex. Its new prescriptions gained 6.8 percent during the same

period.

Abbott's stock rose 0.8 percent.

Celebrex's share of the new prescriptions in the arthritis painkiller

market fell to 7.9 percent last week from 14.9 percent the week earlier.

Mobic increased its market share to 9.2 percent from 7.1 percent.

Celebrex is a member of a class of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors, which

also includes Pfizer's drug Bextra and included the withdrawn drug

Vioxx. Bextra has also recently been linked with heart problems in

high-risk patients.

Bextra's share of new prescriptions during the week fell to 4.7 percent

from 5.7 percent the week before.

COX-II's are a subset of a group of drugs called non-steroidal

anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that relieve pain. Mobic, ibuprofen,

naproxen and aspirin are also NSAIDs.