Drug Names

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COVENTRY HEALTH CARE ACQUIRES FIRST HEALTH GROUP ___________________________________________________________________________ Coventry Health Care Inc. and First Health Group Corp. entered into a definitive agreement whereby Coventry will acquire all outstanding shares of First Health in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion.

The merger of the two firms will create a national health benefits firm capable of providing health insurance and administrative services to a broad commercial and government customer base.

"Coventry Health Care has built a very successful market position in 15 regions throughout the United States," said Allen Wise, Coventry's chief executive. "The acquisition of First Health enables us to extend our success far beyond our existing borders. This transforming acquisition positions Coventry to be a leader over the coming years as our clients seek an efficient solution to their health care cost challenges."

Terms of the agreement provide that Coventry issue 0.1791 shares of its common stock and pay $9.375 for each share of First Health. Based on Coventry's closing price of $52.05 on Wednesday, the indicated combined per share consideration for each outstanding share of First Health common stock amounts to $18.70 or a total indicated equity purchase price of approximately $1.8 billion, according to a First Health press release.

The combined firm expects to have pro forma revenue of $6.2 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $850.8 million. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Coventry's earnings per share, adding $0.30 to $0.36 to Coventry's 2005 earnings per share guidance of $4.13 to $4.17 (excluding one-time transaction related adjustments and costs).

Upon completion of the transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both firms, First Health shareholders will own between 15.1 and 15.7 percent of the combined organization.

Coventry shares closed at $46.29, down $5.76, or 11.1 percent, in heavy Wall Street trading, while First Health shares climbed $2.00, or 13.3 percent, to close at $17.04 in heavy trading on the Nasdaq.

CHIRON SUBMITS NDA FOR PULMINIQ TO PREVENT LUNG-TRANSPLANT REJECTION ___________________________________________________________________________ Chiron Corp. submitted a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration for Pulminiq (cyclosporine) inhalation solution, an immunosuppressant designed for use in combination with standard immunosuppressive therapy to increase survival and prevent chronic rejection in patients who receive allogeneic lung transplants.

Pulminiq would be the first immunosuppressant approved for this indication. The product received an orphan drug designation from the FDA in November of last year.

Data from a pivotal trial cited by Chiron showed that 46.7 percent of placebo-treated patients (n=14) died prior to study completion compared with 11.5 percent of patients (n=3) treated with cyclosporine inhalation solution, indicating a 79 percent reduced risk of death among cyclosporine-treated subjects.

According to a Chiron press release, rejection rates are substantially higher in lung transplant recipients than in those who receive other organ transplants, and long-term survival rates have not improved during the last 10 years.

Chiron acquired worldwide rights to Pulminiq, formerly known as aerosolized cyclosporine, from Novartis AG in April 2003.

CEROVIVE TRIALS CLEARED TO CONTINUE FOLLOWING INTERIM ANALYSIS ___________________________________________________________________________ Renovis Inc. said two Phase III trials of its drug Cerovive, which Renovis licenses to AstraZeneca Plc, will continue as planned following an interim analysis conducted by an independent data and safety monitoring board and the trial steering committee.

The two studies are being conducted to determine Cerovive's effect on disability and neurological recovery in patients who have experienced an acute ischemic stroke. The interim analysis included three months of follow-up from 1,000 patients, Renovis said.

Cerovive is also being investigated in a Phase IIb study of adult patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.

AstraZeneca is targeting a regulatory submission for Cerovive in 2006, according to Reuters, which said Merrill Lynch estimates the product could generate $200 million in sales by 2008.

Renovis shares closed at $11.58, up $1.58, or 15.8 percent, in heavy trading on the Nasdaq.

ALCON AMD DRUG FAILS TO SHOW NON-INFERIORITY TO VISUDYNE ___________________________________________________________________________ Alcon Inc. revealed that an initial analysis of one-year data from a study comparing its anecortave acetate 15 mg with Novartis AG and QLT Inc.'s Visudyne (verteporfin) showed Alcon's product did not meet the study's primary non-inferiority endpoint.

The study of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) showed 45 percent of patients treated with anecortave acetate maintained their vision (defined as less than a three-line loss in logMAR visual acuity) compared with 49 percent of those treated with Visudyne. Though anecortave acetate did not meet the primary non-inferiority endpoint, Alcon said the overall results indicate the two therapies are not statistically different.

Additionally, Alcon said it believes certain "controllable factors" negatively impacted the results of the study, including drug reflux (the leaking of medication through the incision in the conjunctiva during or immediately after application of the drug) and treatment interval.

The company said it has initiated changes in the procedure and developed a counter pressure device designed to control drug reflux. A preliminary analysis of clinical data indicates that controlling for drug reflux during re-administration of the compound may provide a moderate improvement in patient outcomes, according to Alcon.

Alcon said it plans to submit a New Drug Application for anecortave acetate to the Food and Drug Administration by the end of this year.

Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pfizer Inc. have a marketing application pending at the FDA for Macugen (pegaptanib), another treatment for AMD, which may be approved as early as December.

Separately, QLT said a data safety monitoring committee recommended its ongoing trial of Visudyne continue through 24 months. The study is being conducted to determine if the product reduces the risk of vision loss in AMD patients who have subfoveal occult with no classic choroidal neovascularization. The 12-month analysis did not show statistical significance, but a previous Phase III study that failed to reach significance at 12 months did achieve significance at 24 months.

Visudyne generated global sales of approximately $357 million last year.

Shares of Alcon closed at $67.84, down $8.56, or 11.2 percent, in heavy Wall Street trading. Shares of Eyetech, meanwhile, gained $5.34, or 14.9 percent, to close at $41.24 in heavy trading on the Nasdaq, and QLT shares climbed $0.73, or 4.7 percent, to close at $16.18 in heavy Nasdaq trading.

REPORT FINDS 276,000 PATIENTS SWITCHED TO OTHER COX-2 INHIBITORS, NSAIDS IN FIRST WEEK AFTER VIOXX RECALL ___________________________________________________________________________ According to a Verispan report, more than 276,000 patients switched to other COX-2 inhibitors or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the first week following the Sept. 30 recall of Merck & Co. Inc.'s Vioxx (rofecoxib) arthritis therapy.

Of the 276,000 patients, 36 percent (more than 100,000 patients) switched from Vioxx to Pfizer Inc.'s COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex (celecoxib). Celebrex claimed approximately 21 percent of the total prescriptions in the arthritis market for the week ended Oct. 8, up 4 percent from the prior week.

Overall, there were more than 2.1 million arthritis prescriptions in the market. In the four weeks prior to the recall of Vioxx, there were approximately 1.9 million prescriptions.

Thirty-three percent of those patients who switched were prescribed Bextra (valdecoxib), a COX-2 inhibitor manufactured by Pfizer, while generic NSAIDs accounted for 17.6 percent of Vioxx patient switches. Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and Abbott Laboratories' Mobic (meloxicam) accounted for 12 percent of Vioxx patient switches.

The report noted that the number of switches from other COX-2 inhibitors increased during the week compared with the prior week, as there was a 24 percent increase in switching from Celebrex and a 15 percent increase in switching from Bextra.

SHORTER INPATIENT LENGTH OF STAY FOLLOWING MEDICAL REHABILITATION MAY BE RELATED TO INCREASED MORTALITY, NEW DATA SHOW ___________________________________________________________________________ Length of stay for patients receiving hospital inpatient rehabilitation declined from 1994 through 2001, according to a newly published study, and although no significant change was seen for most outcomes, study authors noted a significant increase in mortality during the same time period.

The researchers retrospectively reviewed national data from 1994 through 2001 on 148,807 records for patients who received medical rehabilitation services in 744 hospitals in 48 states. Thirty percent of patients were impaired by orthopedic conditions, 26 percent had a stroke, 7 percent had a brain dysfunction, 5 percent had a spinal cord dysfunction and 5 percent were impaired by other neurologic conditions.

Patients' average stay for in-hospital rehabilitation dropped from 20 days in 1994 to 12 days in 2001. The proportional drop in median length of stay was greatest for patients with orthopedic conditions (42 percent).

Mean days to follow-up remained constant from 89 in 1994 to 90 in 2001. Furthermore, functional status and the number of patients living at home at follow-up remained stable, while efficiency (functional status change divided by length of stay) increased significantly.

During the seven-year study period, patient death rates three to six months following release from the hospital increased from less than 1 percent to 4.7 percent.

The study was published in the Oct. 13 issue of JAMA.

Drug Names
CELLEGY PHARMACEUTICALS INC. ___________________________________________________________________________ Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s New Drug Application for Cellegesic (nitroglycerin ointment, 0.4%) was granted priority review status by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA expects to issue a verdict on the NDA in early January. Cellegesic is designed to treat pain associated with chronic anal fissure.

Drug Names
ELI LILLY AND CO. ___________________________________________________________________________ Eli Lilly and Co. said it will eliminate up to 575 positions at the company, including approximately 300 sales representative jobs. The sales representatives, however, will be offered positions elsewhere in the company. Lilly plans to close all 43 of its leased district and regional sales offices by mid-November, eliminating 100 support-staff jobs. A Lilly spokesperson said the realignment is based on geographic considerations, not an effort to shift focus to different products.

Drug Names
ABBOTT LABORATORIES ___________________________________________________________________________ Abbott Laboratories accrued worldwide sales of $4.68 billion in the third quarter of 2004, up 10.2 percent from $4.25 billion in the same period of 2003. Earnings from continuing operations, excluding one-time charges, increased more than 8 percent from $768.4 million, or $0.49 per share, to $835.1 million, or $0.53 per share. U.S. drug sales totaled $1.68 billion in the quarter, up 11.7 percent year-over-year, including $145 million in U.S. Humira (adalimumab) sales. Abbott's joint venture with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc., generated $2.68 billion in sales during the first nine months of the year. Abbott shares dropped $0.14, or 0.34 percent, on Wall Street.

Drug Names
F. HOFFMANN-LA ROCHE AG ___________________________________________________________________________ F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG reported sales of $17.58 billion for its core businesses during the first nine months of 2004, up 14 percent over the same period in 2003. Pharmaceutical sales increased 17 percent to $12.96 billion. Roche also said it expects full-year sales growth in its pharmaceuticals division to be in the double digits this year. Roche's overall operating profit margin is expected to exceed 22 percent.

Drug Names