Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: Survey Halted, Drug Makers Seek to Protect Hormone Sales

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FriendsForHealthNaturally, angelprincessjo wrote:

This article from NYTimes.com

has been sent to you by angelprincessjo

 

 

Well Ladies, apparently we're making progress!! Read the full story.

It's very fascinating.

 

angelprincessjo

 

 

Survey Halted, Drug Makers Seek to Protect Hormone Sales

 

July 17, 2002

By MELODY PETERSEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

When female patients have asked in recent days whether they

should continue taking Prempro, the hormone replacement

therapy, doctors have told roughly half of them to stop

taking the drug or to switch to an alternative treatment, a

survey of doctors has found.

 

The survey of 338 doctors, conducted last Friday by

ImpactRx, a drug marketing intelligence firm, bodes poorly

for sales of Prempro and for the drug's maker, Wyeth.

 

The stock price of Wyeth plummeted early last week when

researchers announced that they had stopped a long-term

study of women taking Prempro after finding that patients

had a small but increased risk of breast cancer, heart

attacks, strokes and blood clots.

 

Timothy A. Margraf, the president of ImpactRx, said

yesterday that it was far too early to tell how many women

would stop taking the drug, which earned Wyeth about $900

million in sales last year.

 

Primary-care physicians surveyed told about 42 percent of

the patients who asked them about Prempro last week that

they should remain on the drug. Doctors said they told

about 37 percent that they should stop taking it. Some 11

percent of patients were told to switch to another therapy.

 

 

ImpactRx conducted the survey, Mr. Margraf said, to see how

Wyeth and makers of competing products were reacting to the

Prempro study - known as the Women's Health Initiative.

 

The survey showed, for example, that sales representatives

from Wyeth who promote Prempro tripled the number of

doctors they visited last week compared with the week

before the study came out.

 

Some competitors have also jumped at the opportunity to

gain sales as women seek alternative treatments. For

example, the survey found that representatives from Pfizer,

who were promoting FemHRT, a hormonal therapy similar to

Prempro, doubled the number of doctors they visited last

week compared with the week before.

 

Some of those Pfizer representatives told doctors about the

Prempro study and suggested FemHRT as an alternative, the

survey found. It found a similar increase in physician

visits last week by sales representatives at Pharmacia, who

were promoting a similar hormone treatment called

Activella.

 

At Wyeth, Dr. Victoria Kusiak, vice president for global

medical affairs, said the company was finding that most

doctors were making decisions on whether to continue

prescribing Prempro, based on each patient's circumstances.

 

 

The company stressed in letters sent to doctors last week

that the Women's Health Initiative study had found a higher

risk of breast cancer in women who had taken the drug for

four years or more and that it had not questioned the

drug's ability to relieve hot flashes, night sweats and

other problems suffered by women entering menopause.

 

Dr. Kusiak said that the company had asked its sales force

to call on all the significant prescribers of Prempro to

let them know that the study was coming out and to explain

its findings. " The doctors were anxious to hear from our

reps, " she said.

 

She said it was too soon to say how many women would stop

Prempro.

 

A Pharmacia spokeswoman, Caroline Bullock, confirmed that

the company's representatives had increased calls to

physicians about Activella last week.

 

" Women are going into doctor's offices and asking to come

off Prempro, but they still need alternative treatments, "

she said.

 

The part of the Women's Health Initiative study that was

halted included only Wyeth's Prempro, which contains a

mixture of estrogen and progestin. While the hormonal

treatments that compete with Prempro contain forms of

estrogen and progestin chemically different from Prempro,

there is no evidence yet that they are safer than Prempro.

 

The makers of nonhormonal drugs used to treat osteoporosis

are also trying to take advantage of the Prempro study.

Besides helping to relieve symptoms of menopause, one of

Prempro's approved uses is the prevention of osteoporosis.

 

For example, sales representatives from Eli Lilly told

doctors they visited last week that the company's drug

Evista was a safe alternative to hormone therapy, according

to the ImpactRx survey.

 

" We're doing a lot of education, " said Lauren Cislak, a

Lilly spokeswoman. She said the company wanted to make sure

that patients and doctors knew that Evista did not include

estrogen or progestin, like Prempro and the other hormonal

treatments.

 

Merck & Company ran a full-page ad in The New York Times on

Sunday, promoting Fosamax, another drug that treats

osteoporosis. The ad made it clear that Fosamax is a

nonhormonal treatment.

 

" We're encouraging women to have a discussion with their

doctor, " said Gregory Reaves, a spokesman for Merck.

 

Mariann Caprino, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, said the

company's discussions with physicians about FemHRT might

have increased as doctors who were curious about the study

asked the company's sales representatives for more

information.

 

" There is tremendous complexity involved in understanding

this study, " Ms. Caprino said. She said Pfizer did not talk

about the number of visits its sales representatives were

making or other marketing strategies. Pfizer is in a $60

billion deal to buy Pharmacia.

 

Plaintiffs' lawyers have begun filing lawsuits against

Wyeth because of its marketing of Prempro. A suit filed on

Monday by Kenneth B. Moll, a lawyer in Chicago, seeks

compensation for thousands of women around the country who

may have been injured by the drug.

 

A spokeswoman for Wyeth said the company did not think

there were any legal or factual bases for such lawsuits.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/17/business/17DRUG.html?

ex=1028447869 & ei=1 & en=d3db66f551ce52da

 

 

 

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