Teva Pharmaceutical Shares Fall on Confirmation of Merck's Lower Competitive Zocor Prices
NEW YORK -- American depositary shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. fell Wednesday as investors reacted to reports that drug maker Merck & Co. will cut prices of cholesterol treatment Zocor to compete with generic versions with patent protection set to expire.
ADS of the Israeli drug maker fell $1.33, or 3.7 percent, to $34.34 in early morning trading on the Nasdaq. Shares have traded between $29.50 and $45.91 over the past 52 weeks.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that health care insurer UnitedHealth Group will move Zocor to a reimbursement tier making it cheaper than Teva's generic version of the drug after negotiating lower prices with Merck.
On Tuesday, Sen. Charles Schumer accused Merck of conspiring with health insurance companies to undercut Teva's generic version of Zocor days before the patent expires.
Zocor's product patent expires on Friday. Merck reported Zocor sales of $4.4 billion in 2005, and has forecast sales of $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion in 2006.
Teva shares also felt pressure from Indian drug maker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., which not only plans to sell a generic version of Zocor also, but has started selling a version of Merck's enlarged prostate treatment, Proscar. The patent for Proscar expired Monday, the same day the Food and Drug Administration approved Teva's version of the drug. U.S. sales of Proscar totaled about $406 million in the 12 months ended in March.
Merck shares rose 9 cents to $35.01 on the New York Stock Exchange.
NEW YORK -- American depositary shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. fell Wednesday as investors reacted to reports that drug maker Merck & Co. will cut prices of cholesterol treatment Zocor to compete with generic versions with patent protection set to expire.
ADS of the Israeli drug maker fell $1.33, or 3.7 percent, to $34.34 in early morning trading on the Nasdaq. Shares have traded between $29.50 and $45.91 over the past 52 weeks.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that health care insurer UnitedHealth Group will move Zocor to a reimbursement tier making it cheaper than Teva's generic version of the drug after negotiating lower prices with Merck.
On Tuesday, Sen. Charles Schumer accused Merck of conspiring with health insurance companies to undercut Teva's generic version of Zocor days before the patent expires.
Zocor's product patent expires on Friday. Merck reported Zocor sales of $4.4 billion in 2005, and has forecast sales of $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion in 2006.
Teva shares also felt pressure from Indian drug maker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., which not only plans to sell a generic version of Zocor also, but has started selling a version of Merck's enlarged prostate treatment, Proscar. The patent for Proscar expired Monday, the same day the Food and Drug Administration approved Teva's version of the drug. U.S. sales of Proscar totaled about $406 million in the 12 months ended in March.
Merck shares rose 9 cents to $35.01 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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12:53 PM
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