Merck in the Middle of Statin Drug Soap Opera

November 9th, 2009. By AbiK

The latest flurry of statin drug-related news could substitute for your afternoon t.v. soap fix—except there’s a very real-life drama being played out. It’s full of intrigue and false promises. Who knew that the anti-cholesterol drug market could offer so much, and yet so little at the same time?

Here’s the topline history to get you up to speed—just in case you’ve missed the last couple of months’ news on drugs like Vytorin, Zetia and Lipitor…

Zetia + Simvastatin (aka Zocor) = Vytorin 

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Vytorin + Zetia = Class Action Settlement

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Zetia + Atorvastatin (aka Lipitor) = Refused by FDA = Bad News for Merck

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Vytorin + Arbiter 6 Study (due 11/16) = Expected Bad News for Merck 

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Niaspan + Arbiter 6 Study = Expected Good News for Abbott Labs 

So what’s the deal with this Arbiter 6 thing? It’s the clinical study that was conducted—and whose results are hotly anticipated at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual scientific meeting in Orlando on November 16th—to review the efficacy of cholesterol drugs Niaspan (from Abbott Labs) and Zetia (from Merck). Niaspan is an extended release niacin tablet that aims at increasing good cholesterol (HDL) levels.

According to a report at CNNMoney, some doctors and investors are already guessing that the study will reveal that Niaspan is more effective at slowing the thickening of arteries than Zetia. And that’s what the latest fuss is about. Imagine the horrors as that little tidbit makes it way over the audience at the AHA conference later this month! Imagine the shockwaves sent through the corridors and corner offices at Merck’s headquarters in lovely Whitehouse Station, NJ! (not that they don’t already have an entire legal and PR team on this already…)

This on the heels of the Vytorin/Zetia class action settlement in which Merck was charged with marketing Vytorin (and Zetia) as a more effective (and more costly) alternative to other anti-cholesterol drugs. The bottom line there for consumers was that Zetia appeared no more efficacious than statin drugs on their own—that leaves Merck with half of its Vytorin combo—simvastatin—having no real apparent need for its other half: Zetia.

Add on the horror of the realization that Merck seemingly has squat sitting in its back pocket to push Zetia now that the Zetia/Lipitor combo they were hoping to market has been refused by the FDA (Lipitor, currently marketed by Pfizer, is due to lose its patent protection as of 2011). If you’re tracking here, Zetia is basically looking like a dog for Merck…

And finally add to that the back-drop of declining sales at Merck (Vytorin/Zetia sales are already reportedly down 14% this year), and you can imagine the scrambling going on in preparation of the release of the Arbiter 6 study results…

Stay tuned…November 16th ought to be an interesting day in Orlando (and NJ)…

 

 

Tags: Arbiter 6, Merck, statins, Vytorin, Zetia

This was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Drugs/Medical . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.