| Cialis sales end year
No. 2 to the better-known Viagra
January 27, 2005
Cialis ended the year with one weak quarter,
but in the first full year of the global battle
among erectile-dysfunction drugs, it still finished
where many expected — a popular but distant
No. 2 to Viagra.
The joint venture between Bothell-based Icos
and Eli Lilly,
the makers of Cialis, said yesterday the drug
reached all its financial goals for the year.
Cialis had $552 million in worldwide sales for
2004, within its $500 million to $600 million
forecast. The joint venture spent $606 million
on marketing and administrative costs, and ended
up losing $262 million, within the expected
range.
The drug now has 20 percent of the U.S. market
share, compared with Viagra's 69 percent.
Based on the current trends, with marketing
spending expected to decline, Icos and Eli Lilly
repeated they expect their joint venture to
become profitable in mid-2005.
Still, the drug finished the year with a thud.
Fourth-quarter Cialis
sales were flat worldwide, and down in the U.S.
from $70 million to $53 million. The reason:
Wholesalers stocked up on the drug in the third
quarter, just before the price went up 6 percent
to $9.02 per pill. The wholesalers then began
selling the extra inventory after the higher
price kicked in on Sept. 30, without needing
to make more short-term orders.
Icos spokeswoman Lacy Fitzpatrick said the
company discovered the stockpiling in December
through an audit, and has put a stop to it by
reaching agreements with all its wholesalers.
She said the company may still feel the effects
through the first quarter of this year.
Icos stock fell 66 cents to $25 per share yesterday
after the report.
Charles Hill, a business professor at the University
of Washington and an Icos shareholder, said
the fourth-quarter sales were "a disappointment"
but the overall year was solid. He said he's
still concerned about how much Icos and Lilly
will have to spend on the marketing competition
with Viagra. There will be intense interest
among shareholders next week, he said, when
Icos releases its financial forecasts for the
coming year.
Dr. Fred Govier, the head of urology at Virginia
Mason Medical Center in Seattle, said there
was a surge in patients' interest in Cialis
and rival Levitra after their introduction,
which lasted about six weeks for both. After
a period of experimentation, he said, many patients
have settled on their "favorite,"
which he said surprised him. Cialis is a longer-acting
drug, which can allow for more sexual spontaneity,
but in other respects, all three are very similar.
Govier, who consults for all the erectile-dysfunction
drug makers and owns stock in Pfizer and Icos,
said he believes the overall market for the
drugs hasn't exploded because there really aren't
70 million men in North America and Europe who
are candidates for the drugs, as the companies
claim. Many of those men, and their partners,
aren't interested in sex, he said.
Still, he said there is opportunity because
many men remain reticent about seeking treatment.
He said the companies need to get their message
across to primary-care physicians, who are less
familiar with the drugs than specialists. He
expects Pfizer's Viagra, which had $469 million
in worldwide sales in the fourth quarter, to
have an edge for a long time.
"They were the first, they have great
name recognition, they have a great drug,"
Govier said. "I don't think anybody expected
the new drugs to come in and knock them off
their pedestal."
source:-http://seattletimes.nwsource.com
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