Report On Antidepressants Continues To Hit Some Drug Stocks

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Report On Antidepressants Continues To Hit Some Drug Stocks

January 18, 2008: 08:05 PM EST

Jan. 22, 2008 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

Shares of antidepressant drug makers continued to dip on Friday, a

day after a report in the New England Journal of Medicine cast doubt

as to whether the medicines are as effective as the drug industry

claims.

The report, published Jan. 17, reviewed data from studies covering 12

antidepressants. It found that the majority of trials with negative

outcomes weren't published.

According to published literature, 94% of trials conducted on

antidepressants generated positive results.

But after reviewing Food and Drug Administration documents -- which

include unpublished material -- only 51% of the data were shown to be

positive.

" We found a bias toward the publication of positive results, " the

Journal of Medicine report said. " Not only were positive results more

likely to be published, but studies that were not positive, in our

opinion, were often published in a way that conveyed a positive

outcome. "

The review was conducted by a team led by Dr. k H. , a

psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University.

Taking Stock

The team culled information from both published and unpublished

studies involving 12,564 patients.

Several of the best-selling antidepressants were included.

Among them were Eli Lilly's (NYSE:LLY) LLY Cymbalta, which had sales

of $1.3 billion in 2006. Lilly, which also sells Prozac, saw its

stock fall 2% on the day the report came out. Shares were down 1.5%

midday Friday.

Shares of Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP PRB) (NYSE:SGP) SGP dipped to a

new 52-week low of $20.55 during the Jan. 17 trading session before

closing down 8%. Its Organon unit sells Remeron. Shares edged down

slightly Friday.

GlaxoKline GSK slipped nearly 2% on Jan. 17 before declining by

less than 1% midday Friday. It sells Wellbutrin and Paxil, the latter

of which had sales of $154 million in the first half of 2007.

Other stocks taking hits were Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) PFE, which makes

Zoloft, and Wyeth (NYSE:WYE PR) (NYSE:WYE) WYE, which makes Pristiq

and Effexor.

Pfizer fell 1.9% on Jan. 17 and was down 1.7% midday Friday. Wyeth

shed more than 4% on Jan. 17. It was up slightly midday Friday.

Mixed Reviews

The Journal of Medicine report said failed studies didn't necessarily

mean the drugs were ineffective, and all proved more effective than a

placebo. But the true magnitude of their effectiveness seems to be

less than what has been touted.

" It might be argued that some trials did not merit publication

because of methodologic flaws, including problems beyond the control

of the investigator, " the report stated.

" However, since the protocols were written according to international

guidelines for efficacy studies and were carried out by companies

with ample financial and human resources, to be fair to the people

who put themselves at risk to participate, a cogent public reason

should be given for failure to publish. "

The review only considered studies to be published if they were the

sole subject of an article.

When reached for comment, Organon said it was still reviewing the

report but had already found several studies that were either

published or part of published reports.

Remeron has been off-patent since 2002.

Eli Lilly spokeswoman Tammy Hull also said results from two Cymbalta

studies that Journal of Medicine reviewers deemed " unpublished " were

actually published in conjunction with other results. They also were

presented at one or more medical conferences at which abstracts were

required to undergo peer review.

Hull objected to implications that Eli Lilly has been disingenuous in

disseminating its data. She said the company has been an industry

leader in transparency and was in fact the first drug maker to launch

an online clinical trial registry to include data from all Lilly-

sponsored registration clinical trials for its marketed products

going back to 1994.

Roller Coaster

Shern, president and chief executive of the advocacy group

Mental Health America, said the report doesn't necessarily change

what is know about the effectiveness of antidepressants.

" Their point was that physicians are only looking at published

studies and probably getting a much rosier picture, " Shern said.

Meanwhile, last week's stock sell-offs continued an up-and-down ride

for some pharmaceutical firms.

Shares of Pfizer, the world's biggest drug maker, have trended mostly

down since hitting a 52-week high of 27.73 in early June. There have

been numerous peaks and valleys, however.

The stock rose to 25.71 on Oct. 10, dipped to 22.24 on Nov. 26,

trended up to 24.50 on Dec. 7, fell back again, then bounced back up

before falling hard during the past week or so. It currently trades

near 23.

Lilly's stock rose to a high of 59.82 on Oct. 5. Shares hit a 51/2-

year low of 49.09 on Nov. 21, crawled back up to 57.52 on Jan. 14,

and currently trade near 55.

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