Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14095

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Publication type: news

Randall T.
Wyeth Reports New Subpoenas in Protonix Investigation
Bloomberg.com 2008 Aug 4
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJR.ELDfs5Q4&refer=home

Full text:

Wyeth received additional subpoenas from a U.S. grand jury in Massachusetts investigating the marketing and pricing of the heartburn drug Protonix.

Current and former employees have testified before the grand jury this year, Wyeth said today in a regulatory filing. The subpoenas sought ``information and testimony’‘ about how Wyeth promoted and priced Protonix pills and intravenous products, according to the filing.

Sales of Protonix, which is due to lose patent protection in 2010, dropped 59 percent to $228 million last quarter as the drug faced competition from unauthorized generic copies. Protonix was 3.8 percent of Wyeth’s revenue for the quarter, down from 9.7 percent the year earlier.

``This investigation has been going on since December of 2005, so I don’t think this is a huge disclosure,’‘ said Seamus Fernandez, an analyst at Leerink Swann & Co. in Boston, in a phone interview today. Similar probes have resulted in ``reasonably substantial settlements, but they tend to be one- time in nature,’‘ he said. ``It tends not to be a big deal.’‘

Wyeth introduced a cheaper version of its own drug in January after Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. released a copycat version that cut into Protonix sales. Wyeth sued Teva in June to prevent it from selling generic versions of injected Protonix while awaiting a ruling on Teva’s tablet version that went on sale in December.

``We are cooperating fully,’‘ said Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus in an e-mail.

Wyeth said in April it will eliminate as much as 10 percent of its workforce by 2010 following the unexpected competition from Protonix copycats. The company had 50,527 workers at the end of 2007, according to regulatory filings.

Wyeth, based in Madison, New Jersey, rose 87 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $41.11 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has lost 7 percent this year.