Amazingly, Crestor is still growing! Crestor has the most total upside since the drug is already huge ($6 million in the US) and it has room for further growth. Patent expires in 2016 so AZ will sqeeze every dollar they can out of this cash cow! This is the #1 reason you might still have a job next year!
Former CNS manager now in primary care. The future is slightly better!
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Amazingly, Crestor is still growing! Crestor has the most total upside since the drug is already huge ($6 million in the US) and it has room for further growth. Patent expires in 2016 so AZ will sqeeze every dollar they can out of this cash cow! This is the #1 reason you might still have a job next year!
I guess you didn't read the earnings announcement. Generic alternative statins are already beginning to erode Crestor sales, despite the patents for Crestor still being in force. The decline will be slow at first, but significant growth expectations are not very realistic. The crash in sales will occur in 2016, until then just maintaining near current sales levels would be the most anyone could hope for.
I guess you didn't attend the BEM meeting in Dallas. Upper management announced that Crestor GREW in the US market in 2012 in SPITE of the fact that generic Lipitor hit the market. This is an amazing success story for Crestor in the US.
What does "GREW" mean? The question your poorly educated mind should be asking, is what kind of "PROFIT" did it make for the company.
The poster is correct that Crestor "grew" in both dollars and units in 2012. IMS data went from 1,117,904 in Q1 to 1,275,483 in Q4. However, overall profit was down in the U.S. due to other patent erosion.
Crestor grew in sales and profits in the US market. Seems pretty clear to me. Maybe YOU have the problem with comprehension!
Crestor grew in sales and profits in the US market. Seems pretty clear to me. Maybe YOU have the problem with comprehension!
Grew in profits huh? Prove it! You can't. Sales maybe, and MAYBE profits, but you only have the sales data to look at. Besides the generic pressure will be unbelievable this year on Crestor, and will only get worse. Same for Brilinta.
OK Debbie doubter, please prove that Crestor Profitability did NOT grow. Even in the face of overwhelmingly good news, you insist on being negative. Companies do not generally announce profitability on specific products. If you have documented proof that gross-to-net on Crestor decreased please let us know. Otherwise, just accept the good news for what it is!
So your saying MAYBE there's a chance...........
Feeling good today about my job in primary care in the USA! Bye Bye Europe! Thanks Frenchie!
Over one year later I am so glad to be selling Crestor as opposed to Seroquel XR. Look at all the job postings in CNS. Everyone is leaving. It is an absolute sinking ship!
You are so full of it! You should know by now if you have made it through the last two lay offs, performance is not the only deciding factor. If they like you you can keep your job, if you have crossed an RSD or DSM you are out even if you cheated better than your peers on the tests. Look around at the lay offs from the past...there were a lot of high performers.
I am still here. Most of my former CNS rep peers have now left the company. The move to primary care has worked out well for me. I am selling Crestor and making bonus. I still have the same base I had in CNS. I agree with the OP.
I disagree. Been w the company 10 years. I'm in CNS and love it. Making great money with XR despite the generics. My managers great.
Hated primary care.
Hated primary care.
maybe not yet but soon:
FDA Approves Powerful New Cholesterol Drug
By Brian Orelli
May 3, 2013
Merck (NYSE: MRK ) gained Food and Drug Administration approval for its powerful new cholesterol drug Liptruzet, a combination of two already-approved drugs, Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE ) Lipitor and Merck's Zetia.
Merck already sells a combination drug containing Zetia and Zocor called Vytorin. Zocor and Lipitor are in the same class of drugs called statins, but Lipitor is considered more powerful.
In a clinical trial, Liptruzet taken for 12 weeks lowered LDL cholesterol -- that's the bad kind -- by 53% to 61% depending on the dose. Lipitor alone in the same trial reduced cholesterol by 37% to 54% depending on the dose. Zetia by itself reduced LDL cholesterol by just 20%.
Interestingly, despite Lipitor being a better statin than Zocor, the LDL cholesterol data doesn't look that much better than for Vytorin.
In the clinical trial supporting the approval of Vytorin, the combination pill reduced LDL cholesterol by 45% to 60%. It's difficult to compare results between trials since there may be a different makeup of the subjects enrolled in the trials, but there's somewhat of an internal control because both trials tested Zetia alone. In the Vytorin trial, the group that got Zetia by itself had a 19% reduction in LDL cholesterol, similar to the 20% seen in the Liptruzet trial.
One advantage of Liptruzet over Vytorin seems to be at the lowest dose -- 53% vs. 45% -- which could be helpful for patients that can't tolerate high doses of statins due to side effects including muscle aches.
Assuming they're priced the same, Merck doesn't really care whether patients take Liptruzet or Vytorin. The new combination product could help it capture some patients that are currently taking generic Lipitor. It's easier for a doctor to add a second drug than to change from one drug to two different drugs. Patients could have just added Zetia to their Lipitor, but then they'd have to take two separate pills. Liptruzet is more convenient if nothing else.
The biggest loser here could be AstraZeneca's (NYSE: AZN ) Crestor, the other powerful statin on the market, which is now without a comparable Zetia-containing combination drug. If doctors are going to start a patient on a statin with the expectation that they might want to add Zetia later, it makes sense to start with Lipitor.
Of course, that's just adding insult to injury since Lipitor is also preferred because it's available as cheap generic. In the first quarter, U.S. prescriptions for Crestor were down 7% while total prescriptions for statin products increased by 1%.
All eyes now turn toward the Improve-It trial, which is testing Vytorin against Zocor to see if the combination drug not only lowers cholesterol but also decreases heart-related events: heart attacks, strokes, and the like. If the combination drug really does improve it, we'll likely see an increase in the use of Vytorin and probably Liptruzet as well.
wow! That isn't good for AZ. How did they fail to be prepared for this one on time?
I'm interviewing next week for a CNS job. Can you tell me what drugs your currently promoting? AZ's website lists everything they have ever sold.
Due to the problems selling Seroquil XR the company has decided to relaunch ELAVIL for depression. When you interview for the CNS job mention this to the DSM. They will know you did your homework and really want the job. Good luck to you.