Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - December 12, 2006
Ransdell Pierson and Lewis Krauskopf
The products due to be in late-stage trials are MK-524B, which raises "good" HDL cholesterol; weight loss drug MK-364, which works through the same mechanism as Sanofi-Aventis' (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile , Research) Acomplia; MK-974 for migraine headaches; and MK-822, which treats osteoporosis by blocking a protein called Cathepsin K.
Merck research chief Peter Kim said the HIV medicine, which blocks an enzyme called integrase, was well tolerated in clinical trials and worked faster than perhaps any other class of medicines to reduce levels of the virus that causes AIDS.
"The speed in knocking down HIV ... and its ability to inhibit (drug) resistant HIV is very impressive," Kim said at an annual meeting with analysts and money managers at company headquarters in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
Kim said he has high hopes for MK-364, but noted that the weight-shedding drug was associated with psychiatric side effects in clinical trials. He noted that Sanofi's Acomplia had been associated with depression and other psychiatric problems in its own trials.
The research chief also threw a spotlight on MK-859, another of Merck's HDL-raising drugs, which works the same way as Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE.N: Quote, Profile , Research) torcetrapib, a highly potent medicine whose trials were halted early this month due to safety concerns.
He said MK-859 raised levels of HDL by more than 50 percent in clinical trials and cut levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol by more than 20 percent, without raising blood pressure or causing serious cardiovascular side effects.
Torcetrapib, by contrast, was discontinued after it was linked to elevated blood pressure and a worrisome number of deaths.
Merck also expressed confidence in a cancer drug, MK-457, now in mid-stage trials against a wide variety of tumors. It is designed to stimulate the body's natural process of destroying aberrant cells by blocking a protein called Aurora kinase.
Merck, which last week maintained its forecast for flat earnings for 2006 and slightly higher 2007 results, largely pegged its financial goals to revenue from three recently launched new vaccines and a new diabetes drug called Januvia.
Company officials on Tuesday also stressed the importance of a continuing cost-cutting program meant to produce cumulative savings of $4.5 billion to $5 billion in the period 2006 through 2010.
Shares of Merck slipped 5 cents to $43.96 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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