BrandweekNRX: Vytorin prescriptions: How far can they fall?

February 19, 2008

Vytorin prescriptions: How far can they fall?

Vytorin prescriptions are falling, and falling . . . after the worst PR-disaster since Vioxx was pulled from the market . . . and Fred Hassan is becoming the pink elephant in the room. Some ask how long he'll be able to stay.

"This definitely tarnished his image," said Ben Halliburton, chief investment officer of Tradition Capital Management, to Reuters on February 6. TCM holds 454,000 Schering-Plough shares. "This was the worst PR disaster I think I ever recall and he's got to take part of the blame."

"If they can keep moving more aggressively in fixing the PR problem and not letting the prescription decline become a permanent issue, that would help his image and solidify his staying as CEO of Schering-Plough," Halliburton said.

It sure doesn't look as if that is going to happen: Vytorin prescriptions for the week ended February 15 were off 7% to 327,698 compared with the previous week, according to data provided by Verispan. And the prescriptions were down nearly 18% from the week preceding the release of the study results on January 14. Zetia prescriptions declined 8% to 237,797 last week compared with the week before, and were off 19% from pre-Enhance levels.

More info at the WSJ Health Blog.

Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Posted on February 19, 2008 | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834519bc269e200e5505a78408833

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Vytorin prescriptions: How far can they fall?:

The comments to this entry are closed.

February 2008

Comments

A big hello to all readers of this great article. For over 8 years I have practiced daily reading, I enjoy reading blogs or articles like this, with issues of public interest and a very effective and accurate information. I want to say goodbye to clarify that the article is amazing and I would get much more information. CONGRATULATIONS wholeheartedly.

Posted by: Impotence causes | October 18, 2010 at 05:16 PM

I was about to go crazy with this reading, is simply great, I think there should be more pages that display items and information as important, had it not been for this little article, I had not managed to do my job. I'm really grateful with all creators.

Posted by: Cheap viagra | October 21, 2010 at 02:49 PM