Tolle News von Merck & Co!!! - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[speculi]

direkt von:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051006/cancer_vaccine.html?.v=1

AP
Test Shows Vaccine Prevents Cervical Cancer
Thursday October 6, 8:22 am ET
By Linda A. Johnson, AP Business Writer
First Major Study of Vaccine to Prevent Cervical Cancer Found It Was 100 Percent Effective, in the Short Term

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- The first major study of an experimental vaccine to prevent cervical cancer found it was 100 percent effective, in the short term, at blocking the disease and lesions likely to turn cancerous, drug maker Merck & Co said.

Gardasil, a genetically engineered vaccine, blocks infection with two of the 100-plus types of human papilloma virus, HPV 16 and 18. The two sexually transmitted viruses together cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Other types of HPV also can cause cervical cancer and painful genital warts. About 20 million Americans have some form of HPV.

The final-stage study of Gardasil included 10,559 sexually active women ages 16 to 26 in the United States and 12 other countries who were not infected with HPV 16 or 18. Half got three vaccine doses over six months; half got dummy shots.

Among those still virus-free after the six months, none who received the vaccine developed cervical cancer or precancerous lesions over an average two years of follow-up, compared with 21 who got dummy shots.

"To have 100 percent efficacy is something that you have very rarely," Dr. Eliav Barr, Merck`s head of clinical development for Gardasil, told The Associated Press. "We`re breaking out the champagne."

The study, which was funded by Merck, was to be presented Friday at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

A second analysis, including hundreds more women participating in the ongoing study, showed that after just one dose the vaccine was 97 percent effective. That analysis found only one of the 5,736 women who got the vaccine developed cervical cancer or precancerous lesions, compared with 36 among the 5,766 who got dummy shots.

Barr said the 97 percent rate was more "real world," given that patients sometimes miss or delay follow-up shots or tests.

"I see this as a phenomenal breakthrough," said Dr. Gloria Bachmann, director of The Women`s Health Institute at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick.

Bachmann said diagnosis of infection leaves women anxious over the heightened risk of cervical cancer and raises questions among couples about infidelity and prior sexual activity.

"You have to get students in grammar school, middle school, high school (vaccinated) before they become sexually active," she said.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in women and their No. 2 cause of cancer deaths, resulting in about 3,000 deaths in the United States and nearly 300,000 around the world each year. At least half of sexually active men and women become infected with genital HPV at some point.

The immune system clears most such infections in a year or two, but several types of HPV can persist, cause cervical cancer or trigger other cancers in the genital area. There is no cure for HPV, but the cancers can be treated and an improved Pap test is catching more cervical cancer before it has spread.

Whitehouse Station-based Merck, hammered by slumping revenues and profits and facing roughly 5,000 lawsuits over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, is seeking to beat rival drug maker GlaxoSmithKline to market with the first cervical cancer vaccine.

GlaxoSmithKline did not return a call seeking comment, but has published research showing its vaccine against HPV 16 and 18 prevents persistent HPV infection. The Merck vaccine also reduces infection with HPV 6 and 11, which cause 90 percent of genital warts cases.

Merck plans by year`s end to seek Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its vaccine for use by girls and young women.

"If all goes well, sometime in 2006 it should be on the market," Barr said.

Merck is continuing research on Gardasil and will soon report on four years of follow-up on women in the current study. The company also will explore whether the vaccine`s effectiveness wanes over time. Barr noted that some women in the study developed dangerous precancerous lesions caused by HPV types other than 16 and 18.

Merck: http://www.merck.com

National Cancer Institute: http://www.nci.nih.gov

[Ballardpower]

Gibts das auch auf Deutsch
Bist du bei Merck schon eingestiegen?
Wird hier ja nicht besonders viel diskutiert

[speculi]

Hallo Ballardpower!

Ja, ich bin in Merck & Co. seit Dezember 2004 investiert, der Grund war v.a. die tolle Dividende, und eine Geschichte, die mich sehr an Philip Morris (jetzt: Altria) erinnert.

lg
speculi

P.S.: Hier nochmals News:

Drug stocks climb as Merck rebound

By Val Brickates Kennedy, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:10 AM ET Oct. 10, 2005

BOSTON (MarketWatch) - Drugs stocks moved into positive territory early Monday as shares of Merck rebounded from a late-day sell-off on Friday.

The Amex Pharmaceutical Index [...] climbed 0.7% to 622.07, with Merck a major catalyst behind the upswing. The Amex Biotechnology Index [...] , meanwhile, rose marginally to 318.07.

Merck [...] , a Dow Jones Industrial Average component, saw its shares jump 3% to $26.65 in early trade.

The pharmaceutical giant skidded 4% on Friday on reports that the testimony of its first defense witness in a liability trial for its now- recalled drug Vioxx had been struck from the record for being misleading. The case, currently being heard before a state court in New Jersey, is the second Vioxx liability suit out of over 4,500 filed against the company to go to trial.

Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals [...] gained on hopes that the company might begin development again of its moth-balled antiviral drug peramivir in response to fears on an impending worldwide pandemic of avian flu. Antivirals are used to treat severe cases of flu, also known as influenza. BioCryst had been working on the drug with Johnson & Johnson [...].

BioCryst hopped 6% to $12.38.

Fellow antiviral drug developer Gilead Sciences [...] was also on its way up. Gilead advanced 1% to $48.14 in early trade. In preparation for a possible flu pandemic, nations have been rushing to stockpile the company`s antiviral drug Tamiflu. The drug is marketed by European conglomerate Roche.

Antigenics [...] shares shot up 14% to $5.70. The company said that a Phase III study has indicated its drug Oncophage could significantly extend the lives of certain patients stricken with advanced melanoma, a deadly type of skin cancer.

[gracia]

MERCK siegt : DR5EWL kauf 42c

örsenplatz Stuttgart
Realtime-Taxe: Geld: 0,42 Vol. 10.000
Brief: 0,43 Vol. 10.000
Quotierungszeitpunkt 03.11.2005 16:36:03 U

[aurisinterna]

Hallo alle,

ruhig hier.

Was haltet ihr von Merk?
Ich denke über einen Kauf nach. Diese Aktie ist wie Pfizer (Kauf knapp unter 20 E )unterbewertet.
Außerdem zahlt Merck fasst 5 % Divivdende.
Ziehe evt MErck einer Pfizer vor.

BG
auris

[kosto1234]

Ich habe auch die Merck der Pfizer vorgezogen...

Merck hat ein (für Dow Titel) sehr niedriges KGV und eine
gute Dividendenrendite.
Der Höchstkurs von Merck war einaml über 100 (!!!) da
ist also noch genug Luft nach oben vorhanden.
Die Story erinnert nicht nur an Altria sondern auch eher
an Bayer, die ja vor nicht allzu langer Zeit ähnliche
Probleme hatten.

Ich halte Merck für absolut aussichtsreich und ein absolut
besseres Investment als in all die neuen Gold/Kupfer/Ölaktien
einzusteigen.

My 2 Cents

[RTLOLDY]

Lesen lohnt sich .......
http://www.stein4stein.de/Depot2.htm

[Turbo-Pascal]

dito. Bin im vor drei Monaten zu 25,75 rein gekommen und bin bisher ganz zufrieden mit dem Investment. Die 35 Euro sehen wir dieses Jahr noch.

[speculi]

Hier noch zwei Nachrichten von gestern ("Editor Reverses Testimony in Vioxx Retrial") und heute ("Merck Witness Testifies in Vioxx Retrial"), beide von Associated Press:
_________________________________________________

Editor Reverses Testimony in Vioxx Retrial
Monday February 13, 8:45 pm ET
By Janet Mcconnaughey, Associated Press Writer
Editor of Medical Journal Reverses Past Statements About Release of Editorial in Vioxx Retrial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The widow, son and youngest daughter of a Florida man who had a fatal heart attack after taking Vioxx for a month told jurors Monday how his death hurt them, and rested their case as the retrial of the first federal Vioxx case entered its second week.

Merck & Co. will begin its defense Tuesday against claims that Vioxx caused Richard "Dickie" Irvin`s heart attack, and that it hid the drug`s dangers in its rush to market it. If jurors don`t believe the first point, the second becomes irrelevant, company attorney Phil Beck said in his opening statement.

Ashley Irvin, who was 17 when her father died in May 2001, testified that the pain of his loss is as bad now as it was then. "It`s hard to wake up for me still. People say it gets better over time. It doesn`t."

Before his death, she said, she had planned to go to college. But after his death, her grades plummeted. "Mom needed me. I didn`t have the grades for full college," She said. She attended community college for about six months, but dropped out.

While still in high school, she said, she was taking care of her mother and a sister who were both "falling apart."

Her mother "lost her life, like all of us did. She was kind of distant. I kind of lost my mother and father for about a year. I got her back. I wish I could get him back," she said, weeping.

Earlier Monday, Dr. Gregory Curfman, executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, said there had been a connection between the first federal Vioxx trial in Houston and the timing of his journal`s publication of an editorial critical of a study used as evidence in that trial, reversing earlier statements.

The editorial criticized a study called VIGOR that both sides in the case -- and others -- have cited as proving their contentions about whether manufacturer Merck & Co. had been forthcoming with information on the drug`s role in heart attacks.

The editorial said VIGOR`s authors failed to mention three patients who had heart attacks while taking the painkiller during the study and jumped to an unwarranted conclusion about data it did report.

Curfman said the journal`s editors decided to publish the editorial online Dec. 8 because they believed his videotaped deposition would be played that day in the original trial. As it turned out, it was not played then.

That trial, moved to Houston because of damage from Hurricane Katrina, ended with a hung jury.

"When you released the editorial on Dec. 8, I think you indicated you didn`t know precisely what was going on in the trial in Houston?" Beck asked during cross-examination.

"Right," Curfman answered.

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon is overseeing pretrial matters in all 4,050 federal cases concerning the drug. Merck also faces more than 5,500 state court cases involving similar allegations. The company pulled the drug from the market in September 2004 after a study called APPROVe found it doubled the risk of heart attacks after 18 months.

Some of Curfman`s testimony about that article was played for jurors on Friday, and more on Monday, when testimony about APPROVe was also played.

Curfman said that because his trial testimony was not an official statement by the journal, editors believed the editorial should be released first to be sure the information was clearly set out and understood by the public.

"As far as I was concerned, the issue was not the trial," Curfman said during a second deposition, made in January. "The issue was my personal testimony and how it would be played and how it might be interpreted or misinterpreted by members of the media."
_________________________________________________

Merck Witness Testifies in Vioxx Retrial
Tuesday February 14, 4:31 pm ET
By Janet Mcconnaughey, Associated Press Writer
Merck Opens Its Defense in Vioxx Retrial With Testimony About History, Workings of Painkiller

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Merck & Co. opened its defense in the retrial of the first federal Vioxx lawsuit with testimony about the history and workings of the once-popular painkiller.

Jurors listened attentively as Dr. Briggs Morrison, who was on the "project team" coordinating Vioxx research that the drug and similar medicines reduce an enzyme called prostacyclin which helps keep blood from clotting. However, Morrison pointed out that prostacyclin is produced in many parts of the body because it has numerous other functions, and said that Vioxx didn`t affect its production in blood vessels.

The five men and three women will eventually have to decide whether they think Vioxx caused the blood clot that killed Richard "Dickie" Irvin in May 2001 -- and, if that answer is yes, whether Merck hid the drug`s dangers.

Irvin`s widow, Evelyn Irvin Plunkett, is among more than 9,600 state and federal court plaintiffs who claim that in a rush to get Vioxx to market and to keep it there, Merck hid its dangers from the public.

Vioxx was developed in the years before several of Merck`s other big money-makers were scheduled to lose their patents, allowing other companies to sell generic versions and driving down prices.

Vioxx, was approved in 1999, brought in $2.5 billion in 2003. In September 2004, Merck pulled it from the market after a study found it doubled patients` risk of heart attacks and strokes after 18 months. Merck contends that there is no danger in shorter periods. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated last year that class of drugs which encompasses Vioxx was safe for short-term use.

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon, who is overseeing pretrial matters for all 4,000-plus federal Vioxx cases, has said he hopes to work out a settlement after the first four trials and wants this one over in two to 2 1/2 weeks. Plunkett`s attorneys rested their case Monday evening, after just over five days of testimony.

Their witnesses included the editor of a prestigious medical journal, who said Merck scientists overstated a claim that has been central to their defense: that the drug is dangerous only after a year and a half of use. Another witness, a former FDA official, said the company could have changed the Vioxx label two years earlier than it did to note that, in one drug test, heart attacks occurred in five times as many patients taking Vioxx than those on another painkiller.

Morrison testified that, after an early study found an indication that Vioxx apparently decreased production of prostacyclin, the next question was to find out where the prostacyclin in question was created, because the body makes it in many places and its action is different in each.

When pieces of blood vessels from rabbits with healthy arteries and those with atherosclerosis were put into test tubes, and Vioxx added to match the concentration of a 250 or 1,000-milligram dose in humans, it had no effect on prostaglandin production, Morrison said.

"Wherever in the body Vioxx was decreasing production of prostaglandin, it wasn`t the blood vessels," he said.

He said that invalidated the idea that an imbalance of prostaglandin and thromboxane, which makes blood cells clump together, made heart attacks more likely in people taking Vioxx.

Plaintiff lawyer Troy Rafferty`s cross-examination concentrated on pointing out that Morrison was not a cardiologist or pharmacologist, and that Merck had not done any of the studies suggested by outside scientists after the prostaglandin reduction was found.

There were "lots of ideas floating around," Morrison said, and none of the studies would have pinpointed where in the body COX-2 inhibitors depress prostacyclin production.
_________________________________________________

lg, speculi

[kosto1234]

Heute sind wieder die Hasenfüsse aus dem Wert raus, da Merck
gestern 2 Schadensersatzprozesse in den USA verloren hat
Sie wissen wohl nicht, dass Merck bereits einen enormen Betrag
für mögliche Entschädigungen und Prozesskosten bereits zurückgelegt und auch in ihrer Bilanz verbucht hat, was heisst, das es so ziemlich egal ist wieviel Prozesse Merck noch verliert (sie haben auch schon welche gewonnen) es wird die Firma (ausser beim Aktienkurs)
nicht weiter tangieren.
Ausserdem zahlt Merck vierteljährlich eine gute Dividende
Nicht-Hasenfüssen bieten sich also derzeit gute Einstiegsmöglichkeiten
bei Altira haben sich damals auch einige gewundert

My 2 cents

[kitchen1]

nachdem heute eine neue studie bekannt wurde müsste, der kurs morgen aber deutlich nachgeben.
in 3 von 6 urteilen wurde merck zu jeweils 5- 20 mio $ schadenersatz verurteilt.
angenommen so ähnlich laufen auch die restlichen 11000 gerichtsverfahren ab, also sagen wir 5000 veruteilungen und 6000 freisprüche. jede der verurteilungen kostet sagen wir 5 millionen (das ist noch relativ glimpflich). dann wäre die gesamte schadenssumme für merck 5 000 x 5 millionen = 25 milliarden!!!
derzeitige marktkapitalisierung liegt bei etwa 60 milliarden, aber die liquiden mittel sind deutlich niedriger, ich schätze das würde in die insolvenz führen, wenn die das wirklich zahlen müssen. aber vielleicht kommt es auch zu einer erholung wie bei altria, wo dann viele urteile in der revision wieder aufgehoben werden. meiner ansicht nach neben altria die spannendste aktie im dow jones.

[leiro1]

Soeben auf yahoo.de gelesen:

Financial Times Deutschland
USA entscheiden über Krebsimpfung
Donnerstag 29. Juni 2006, 11:45 Uhr


Am Donnerstag wird in den USA eine Vorentscheidung über die Anwendungsbreite und den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg des ersten Impfstoffs gegen Gebärmutterhalskrebs fallen. Das Medikament Gardasil des US-Pharmakonzerns Merck & Co. zählt zu den großen Neuerungen in der Onkologie. Mit Gardasil seien Spitzenumsätze von 3 Mrd. $ jährlich im US-Markt möglich, schätzen Analysten. Die US-Zulassung wurde vor drei Wochen erteilt. Nun erwägt die amerikanische Gesundheitsbehörde CDC alle Mädchen im Alter von elf und zwölf Jahren präventiv gegen Gebärmutterhalskrebs zu behandeln.

Damit würde Gardasil zur Routinebehandlung von Millionen Mädchen
- ähnlich wie die Tetanusimpfung. Rund 360 $ pro Patientin kostet die Krebsprävention. Ein Expertengremium entscheidet am Donnerstag über eine Empfehlung an die CDC (NASDAQ: CHINA - Nachrichten) . Die Behörde folgt in der Regel dem Expertenvotum. In Deutschland ist Gebärmutterhalskrebs die dritthäufigste Krebserkrankung bei Frauen unter 60 Jahren. Pro Jahr gibt es 6500 Neuerkrankungen und 2500 Todesfälle. Ein erster Anstieg ist bereits bei Frauen zwischen 30 und 40 Jahren zu verzeichnen.Impfprogramm würde Deutschland 1 Mrd. kostenNoch ist Gardasil in der EU nicht zugelassen, aber Experten rechnen bis zum Ende des Jahres damit. Eine hitzige Diskussion in Deutschland über den Sinn und Zweck und vor allem die Impfkosten in Milliardenhöhe ist bereits absehbar. Es droht ein Kostenschub, der den Krankenkassen Probleme bereiten dürfte. Denn 400.000 Mädchen sind in Deutschland elf Jahre alt, in den USA sind es zwei Millionen. Würde diese Altersgruppe in Deutschland das Impfprogramm zum Preis von etwa 250 Euro pro Patientin erhalten, lägen die Gesamtkosten des Programms hier zu Lande bei 1 Mrd. Euro pro Jahr. Dadurch würden die jährlichen Medikamentenkosten um vier Prozent steigen. Gardasil wäre bald das umsatzstärkste Medikament Deutschlands.Es gibt allerdings zahlreiche Unbekannte in dieser Kalkulation, zumal Merck & Co. noch gar keinen Impfpreis für Deutschland nennen kann, solange die Zulassung fehlt. In der Rechnung ist andererseits nicht berücksichtigt, dass auch andere Altersgruppen Interesse an einer Impfung haben werden. Ob es bald zu einer standardmäßigen Impfung von jungen Mädchen kommt, entscheidet die Ständige Impfkommission im Berliner Robert-Koch-Institut nach der EU-Zulassung.

Es waren Ärzte am Heidelberger Krebsforschungszentrum, die in den 70er Jahren das Humane-Papilloma-Virus (HPV) als Auslöser der Bildung von Gebärmutterhalskrebs entdeckten. Papilloma-Viren werden über Hautkontakt und Geschlechtsverkehr übertragen. Daher sollen Mädchen geimpft werden, solange sie noch keinen Geschlechtsverkehr gehabt haben.

Frauen zwischen 20 und 25 Jahren am häufigsten betroffenEtwa 70 Prozent aller sexuell aktiven Frauen und Männer infizieren sich mindestens einmal im Leben mit HPV. Frauen zwischen 20 und 25 Jahren sind am häufigsten betroffen. Es gibt ungefähr 100 verschiedene HPV-Typen. Viele davon sind harmlos und rufen keine Erkrankungen hervor. 17 Typen sind krebsauslösend. Zwei dieser aggressiven Formen wurden bei über 70 Prozent aller Gebärmutterhalskrebsfälle festgestellt: HPV 16 und HPV 18. Gegen sie wirken die neuen Impfmittel von Merck und Glaxo. Während Mercks Gardasil in den USA Anfang Juni für die Altersklasse der 9- bis 26-Jährigen zugelassen wurde, dürfte Glaxos Cervarix erst in einigen Monaten ins Rennen um die Milliardenumsätze gehen. Der Antrag auf Zulassung in der EU ist im März eingereicht worden.

HPV-Infektionen können zu Geschwüren führen und in zirka drei Prozent der Fälle zu einem bösartigen Tumor. Das betrifft 8 von 1000 Frauen jährlich. Zwischen der HPV-Infektion und dem Auftreten eines Tumors können 10 bis 40 Jahre liegen. Derzeit werden bei Vorsorgeuntersuchungen die Infektionen meist erkannt und können behandelt werden. Die Zahl der Krebserkrankungen wurde damit wesentlich reduziert. Doch in Deutschland nehmen nur die Hälfte aller Frauen die Vorsorge in Anspruch.

Die neuen Impfstoffe bestehen aus virusähnlichen Partikeln, die bei Merck in Hefezellen und bei Glaxo in Mottendarmzellen produziert werden. Die Partikel aktivieren das Immunsystem der Impfpatientin und schützen sie.

LEIRO1

[speculi]

von AP (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060711/merck_emend.html?.v=1)


Merck Gets Added FDA OK for Emend
Tuesday July 11, 9:25 am ET
Merck Receives Additional FDA Approval for Emend to Treat Nausea After Surgery

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) -- Drug maker Merck & Co. said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration gave additional approval to its Emend nausea treatment for sickness that occurs after surgery.

In January, the FDA approved Emend for use with other nausea treatments for cancer patients with the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.

The new approval allows Emend to be given as a treatment for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting, one of the most common side effects following surgery.

For the post-surgery use, Merck submitted data from two clinical trials testing 40 milligrams of Emend against 4 milligrams of intravenous Zofran, made by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

One study showed that 84 percent of Emend patients did not vomit in the 24 hours following surgery, compared with the 71 percent taking Zofran. In another study, 64 percent of patients given Emend did not vomit 24 hours after surgery, compared with the 55 percent taking Zofran. However, the last set of figures was not statistically significant, according to Merck.

Merck shares rose 26 cents to $37.08 in premarket activity on the INET electronic exchange after closing at $36.82 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

[djimmi]

Merck macht richtig Spaß, läuft schön gegen den allg Trend, fast wie premiere ausserdem sieht der Chart jawohl mehr als interesseant aus

[david1]

!

Dieser Beitrag wurde vom System automatisch gesperrt. Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an [e-mail]

[djimmi]

jetzt muss ich mir schon selbst antworten:

Ja, geht weiter geilomat mässig aufwärts, warum hat hier keiner diese kongeniale Akazie

[franzwerner]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 23.015.579 von djimmi am 24.07.06 21:56:26

Hat, genießt, zieht sich Dividende rein.

[speculi]

Merck 2Q Profit More Than Doubles
Monday July 24, 3:26 pm ET
By Linda A. Johnson, AP Business Writer

Merck 2Q Profit More Than Doubles, Shares Briefly Rise to 52-Week High

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Merck & Co. said Monday its second-quarter profit more than doubled due to sharply higher income from its partnerships to sell cholesterol drugs and other products, and comparison with year-ago results depressed by a $640 million tax charge for repatriating foreign earnings.

The Whitehouse Station-based drug company raised its earnings forecast for the year, and its shares rose more than 4 percent to a new 52-week high.

Merck is the maker of the osteoporosis treatment Fosamax and Singulair, which treats asthma and allergies. The company reported net income of $1.5 billion, or 69 cents per share, for the three months ending on June 30, up from $720.6 million, or 33 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue totaled $5.77 billion, up 5.6 percent from $5.47 billion.

"This was a questionable patient a year ago and now they're significantly better," said pharmaceuticals analyst Steve Brozak of WBB Securities.

He cited multiple new products whose small sales add up, plus Merck's strategy of fighting each lawsuit over withdrawn painkiller Vioxx going better than analysts expected.

Excluding a net charge of $161 million for eliminating jobs and closing or selling facilities, mainly due to Merck's ongoing global restructuring, income would have been 73 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected 65 cents per share on sales of $5.46 billion for the latest quarter.

Merck has cut 3,400 of the 7,000 positions set to go by the end of 2008.

Analyst Dr. Timothy Anderson of Prudential Financial wrote in a report that Merck and other drugmakers are benefitting from "tailwind" due to new prescription coverage for seniors under Medicare.

Merck shares rose $1.60, or 4.3 percent, to $38.96 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange where they rose to a 52-week high of $39.06 earlier in the session.

Singulair sales jumped 30 percent to $950 million; Fosamax sales dipped slightly to $821 million; and sales for the related blood pressure medicines Cozaar and Hyzaar were flat at $784 million. Top-selling Zocor for high cholesterol, which just got generic competition, saw sales drop 14 percent to $990 million.

Equity income from Merck partnerships jumped 83 percent to $611 million. That included Merck's share of profits after costs from its partnerships with AstraZeneca LP to sell heartburn treatment Nexium, with Sanofi Pasteur to sell vaccines, and with Schering-Plough Corp. on cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin; those two pills alone posted $973 million in global sales in the quarter.

"Our underlying business is solid and we continue to have the capacity to deliver strong results," chief executive officer and president Richard T. Clark told analysts during a conference call.

Merck had a total of $83 million in sales for four new vaccines, including Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer. It must pay one-quarter of Gardasil revenues to other parties over patent and licensing rights, an unusually large amount, Brozak said.

The company noted marketing and administrative costs were down 1 percent at $1.73 billion, with promotion for Zocor reduced. Research and development spending jumped 24 percent to $1.2 billion, partly because of a $296 million charge for acquiring GlycoFi Inc., a small company with technology for efficiently making proteins -- key parts of biotech drugs -- from yeast.

Barbara Ryan, pharmaceuticals analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote that Merck's growth target -- double-digit earnings-per-share growth through 2010 -- was overly ambitious.

Merck raised its full-year earnings forecast to $2.40 to $2.48 per share, or $2.10 to $2.24 including restructuring charges; that was up 8 cents from its forecast in April. Analysts are expecting full-year earnings of $2.40 per share.

Meanwhile, the company reported as of June 30 it has been served with 14,200 Vioxx lawsuits that include about 27,100 plaintiff groups, half filed in New Jersey, plus 190 potential class action suits. Court officials earlier this month reported a total of more than 16,000 suits alleging the one-time blockbuster arthritis pill caused heart attacks or strokes. Merck also has entered about 5,800 agreements to suspend the statute of limitations for potential plaintiffs who have not yet sued.

Merck this month won the most recent Vioxx trial in Atlantic City, has one under way in Los Angeles and 10 more scheduled around the country this year. It has won four of seven verdicts to date, but faces a potential surge of new suits by late September, when the statute of limitations expires in about half the states.

For the first six months, Merck reported net income of $3.02 billion, or $1.38 per share, up 44 percent from $2.09 billion, or 95 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue totaled $11.2 billion, up 3 percent from $10.83 billion a year earlier.

On the Net: http://www.merck.com
______________________________________________

(von: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060724/earns_merck.html?.v=12&printe…

lg
speculi

[reimar]

moin,

weiter geht´s...

http://news.onvista.de/alle.html?DATE_RANGE=today&NEWS_LANG=…

[speculi]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 23.489.236 von reimar am 17.08.06 22:33:15

aber leider nicht so wie erhofft ... hoffentlich kommt es nicht noch viel schlechter.

sollten wir noch ein stueck weiter fallen, dann waere ja fast schon wieder eine einstiegsmoeglichkeit gegeben.

lg
speculi

[djimmi]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 23.493.322 von speculi am 18.08.06 11:23:14

also heute interessanter Tag!
Charttechnisch betrachtet, vielleicht laufen wir ja über die 42$

[speculi]

von reuters:

EU urged to vaccinate girls against cervical cancer
Thu Oct 5, 2006 7:01pm ET145

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - All adolescent girls in European Union countries should be vaccinated against a virus that is linked to most cases of cervical cancer, a leading medical journal said on Friday.

Gardasil, a vaccine made by Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) that protects against the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), was approved by European regulators last month for use in girls aged 9-15 years old and women 16-26.

"For effective and long-term eradication of HPV, all adolescents must be immunised," the Lancet said in an editorial.

The vaccine has already been launched in the United States where it has been recommended by experts for use in girls as young as nine and women up to the age of 26.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. Each year 470,000 women are diagnosed with the disease and 230,000 die. Most of the deaths are in the developing world.

The Lancet said there was growing support for vaccinating both boys and girls against the sexually transmitted virus but added that more data from vaccine trials in boys was urgently needed.

But in the meantime it advised EU member states to take the lead by making vaccinations mandatory for all girls aged 11-12 years old.

Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and Portugal are expected to get the product this year.

It will be launched in Spain, Italy and Greece in 2007.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
__________________________________________________

lg, speculi

[Highnoon120]

Scheint den kurs aber runterzuziehen die Nachricht

[kosto1234]

Der Titel startet jetzt echt durch .. ist auf 52 Wochen hoch, hatte
seinerzeit Glück ihn zum fast 52 Tief zu bekommen und die haben auch seither jedes Quartal eine saubere Dividende bezahlt ....
Prozesse hin oder her .. Merck hat das Geld ja schon zurückgelegt ...
und die meisten utopischen Schadenersatzurteile werden in der zweiten Instanz in den USA sowieso erheblich gemindert (nur berichtet niemand darüber, da unspektakulär) ...

[djimmi]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 24.610.430 von kosto1234 am 13.10.06 21:10:53

das ist ne geile Aktie bei 40 Euronen hab ich die 100%te voll

[kosto1234]

Und Merck steigt und steigt und steigt
Ich habe auch so um die 40 die 100% erreicht .. schade dass ich
seinerzeit nicht noch mehr gekauft habe .....

[speculi]

das sind mal nicht so tolle news:
__________________________________________

Merck faces $5.6B tax liability
Drugmaker says problems in U.S., Canada are related to disputes over accounting for past transactions.
November 8 2006: 2:22 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Drug maker Merck & Co. faces a potential $5.58 billion in tax liabilities from U.S. and Canadian authorities related to a number of disputes over accounting for past transactions, the company said in a filing Tuesday.

Merck (Charts) said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it disagrees with the proposed tax adjustments and plans to pursue the matters through Internal Revenue Service and judicial procedures, as necessary.

"Management currently believes that the resolution will not have a material adverse effect on the company's financial position or liquidity," the company said in the filing.

A Merck spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a proposed adjustment related to a 1993 partnership that could add up to a potential total of $2.32 billion including an estimated adjustment to tax bills as well as related interest and penalties, according to the filing.

Another dispute involves minority interest equity financing arrangements for several years between 1995 and 2004, which combined could lead to a tax bill of $960 million, including interest.

The IRS also proposed a recharacterization of a loan from a foreign subsidiary that could lead to an additional bill of $540 million including tax due plus interest.

Merck also said it had previously disclosed that its Canadian tax returns for the years 1998 through 2004 were being examined by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

It said the CRA issued it a notice last month with adjustments for intercompany pricing resulting in additional tax due of about $1.4 billion and $360 million interest.

The company said it disagrees with the CRA and intends to contest the assessment through the tax agency's process and through the courts if necessary.

Merck shares rose 9 cents Tuesday. Other pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb (Charts), Johnson & Johnson (Charts) and Pfizer (Charts), rose more significantly.
__________________________________________

lg speculi

[speculi]

von http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061116/vioxx_federal_trial.html?.v=2
__________________________________________

AP
Jury Clears Merck in Latest Vioxx Trial
Thursday November 16, 1:06 am ET
By Janet Mcconnaughey, Associated Press Writer
Merck Lawyers: Evidence in 11th Vioxx Case Shows Why Company Wants to Try Each Suit Separately

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Evidence brought out the trial in 11th case alleging that Merck & Co. covered up dangers of its painkiller Vioxx shows just why the company wants to try each of the thousands of lawsuits on its own, company attorneys say.

"Each involves specific facts. It's hard to support generalizations," attorney Phil Beck says.

A federal jury on Wednesday cleared Merck in the July 2003 heart attack suffered by a Utah bank credit manager who had taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx for 10 1/2 months.

It was Merck's third win out of four federal cases -- and its sixth overall. It has lost one federal case and three in various state district courts. The 11th case was originally a Merck victory, but the judge overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial.

"Our strategy has now resulted in seven favorable jury verdicts, including four of the last five cases, and more than 3,000 case dismissals," Kenneth C. Frazier, the company's general counsel and an executive vice president, said in a press release.

In this case, Charles Laron "Ron" Mason, 64, a retired bank credit manager from Salt Lake County, blamed the drug for the heart attack which he suffered in July 2003. He had taken Vioxx after years of taking other anti-inflammatory drugs because of back pain.

Beck said he and co-counsel Tarek Ismail made two crucial points during trial. One was Mason's acknowledgment under cross-examination that he had stopped taking Vioxx four days before the heart attack. The other was that film taken during the operation to open his blocked artery showed that the blockage was almost all plaque, rather than a big blood clot.

Plaintiffs around the country have argued that Vioxx keeps the body from making an anti-clotting enzyme, thus increasing the chance that clots in blood vessels will cause strokes and heart attacks.

Beck said he and Ismail had suspected that Mason had stopped taking Vioxx the Monday before his heart attack, when his chest pains began, and that Mason had simply forgotten that fact.

Ismail designed his questions to point this out, Beck said. "When the evidence was in front of him, he was the one who said, `I did not take Vioxx on any of those days.'"

During his closing argument, Beck focused on those four days without Vioxx.

"Vioxx cannot cause a heart attack if it is not in the system," he told the jury. "Vioxx is out of the system in a few days. Once it's out of the system, it cannot have any effect."

The angioplasty film "showed there was no big blood clot that he would have had to have under the plaintiffs' theory," Beck said.

And, he told jurors in his closing argument, the New Orleans doctor who had testified that he believed Vioxx caused the heart attack also testified that he had never seen that film and was not qualified to evaluate it. Nor was he brought back to the stand to explain how the drug's effect might have continued.

Ed Blizzard, Mason's attorney, countered that in scientific studies, heart attacks within two weeks after stopping a drug are counted among its side effects.

Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes. None of the five men and two women would comment.

Mason, who was seeking about $690,000 in lost wages and other damages, also had no comment about the verdict. "We thought we had proved the case. Obviously the jury didn't agree," Blizzard said. He said they had not decided whether to appeal.

Merck has appealed all of its losses.

Beck noted that the plaintiffs' steering committee had chosen Mason's case as one they wanted to try early.

"It's gratifying that we were able to defend against a case that the plaintiffs considered one of their strongest and against topflight lawyers," Beck said.

In his closing argument, Blizzard had said that the drug had lasting effects that didn't go away between the Monday that Mason began taking a different painkiller for chest pains and the Friday of his heart attack.

A physician brought as a witness for Mason testified that the plaque in Mason's arteries had been forming for decades, and that Vioxx had nothing to do with either its formation or the break that brought on the blood clot which caused the heart attack, Beck said.

The realization that Mason hadn't taken Vioxx immediately preceding the heart attack "was a surprise to us. It was a surprise to Mr. Mason. But it is not what this case is about," Blizzard countered. "This is not about four days. It is about ten months that he took the drug."

Blizzard said Merck withheld crucial safety information from doctors and patients, and from Karen Olson, the nurse-practitioner who prescribed it for him during a checkup in September 2002. Mason had taken anti-inflammatory drugs for years because of chronic back pain.

Olson testified that she had asked Merck representatives specifically whether Vioxx was safe for the heart, and was reassured that it was indeed safe, Blizzard said in his closing argument Wednesday.

Mason's case is among more than 24,000 filed since Merck withdrew the drug from the market two years ago because of evidence that Vioxx doubled patients' risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Another 15,000 potential plaintiffs have agreements temporarily suspending the time to sue, and Merck disclosed last week that a Canadian judge has approved a class action suit for residents of Quebec.
__________________________________________

lg, speculi

[speculi]

von http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061122/vioxx_federal_suits.html?.v=1… (22.11.2006):
________________________________________

AP
Judge: No Federal Class in Vioxx Suits
Wednesday November 22, 4:53 pm ET
By Janet Mcconnaughey, Associated Press Writer
U.S. Judge Says Federal Lawsuits Over Vioxx Cannot Be Combined Into 1 National Class Action

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Thousands of federal lawsuits claiming the drug Vioxx caused heart attacks and other conditions that killed or injured people cannot be pooled into one national class action, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon, who was appointed to deal with pretrial matters for all federal suits involving Merck & Co.'s withdrawn painkiller, did not rule on the possibility of separate personal injury class-action suits for each state and the District of Columbia.

The judge's reasoning in the rest of the ruling appears to support Merck's view that the cases must be looked at individually, said Ted Mayer, Hughes Hubbard and Reed, outside counsel for the drug company.

"We are pleased with the decision," said Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Merck, which is based Whitehouse Station, N.J.

Merck has won six cases, three each in federal and various state district courts. A fourth state court victory was overturned and a retrial ordered. The company has lost one federal case and three in state courts.

Russ Herman, chairman of a committee of plaintiffs' lawyers, said he had expected the decision. "Federal jurisprudence currently tracks an industry theory that thousands of injured people should litigate individually in order to give a single wrongful manufacturer due process," he said.

Fallon's 25-page ruling rejected the plaintiffs' proposal to try all the cases under the laws in New Jersey. They argued that the company should reasonably expect to follow the laws of the state where it is headquartered.

"While this is true, it is just as true that Merck, an international corporation providing its drugs to every state in the nation, should expect to abide by every jurisdiction's laws," Fallon wrote.

Since plaintiffs in other states couldn't reasonably expect their personal injury claims to be governed by New Jersey law, it makes more sense to apply the law of each plaintiff's home state to that plaintiff's claims, Fallon ruled.

"Each plaintiff's home jurisdiction has a stronger interest in deterring foreign corporations from personally injuring its citizens and ensuring that its citizens are compensated than New Jersey does in deterring its corporate citizens' wrongdoing," he wrote.

Herman said the plaintiffs' committee will ask Fallon to have one class-action suit on the single question of whether Vioxx, which was sold from late 1999 until September 2004, changed the cardiovascular system in ways that caused heart attacks.

Mayer said he doesn't think they'll get that, either. He said Fallon did more than rule that differences among state laws make it impractical to bring all of the cases. "He went beyond that and said, even if one state's law applied, because individual issues dominate, class certification would not be appropriate," Mayer said.

Fallon wrote he was "confident that common questions exist" in the many personal injury suits among the 7,000-plus federal lawsuits before him -- something required for class actions.

But, he said, allegations that Merck failed to warn doctors adequately about the drug's alleged health risk, "necessarily turn on numerous individualized issues."

He wrote these issues include "the alleged injury; what Merck knew about the risks of the alleged injury when the patient was prescribed Vioxx; what Merck told physicians and consumers about those risks in the Vioxx label and other media, what the plaintiffs' physicians knew about the risks from other sources, and whether the plaintiffs' physicians would still have prescribed Vioxx had stronger warnings been given."

Merck shares rose 16 cents to close at $44.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The ruling came two days after Fallon rejected class action claims brought by nine countries. Plaintiffs in England, South Africa, Poland, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada should use their own legal systems, he said Monday night. He had made a similar ruling in August, against suits brought by people in France and Italy.
________________________________________

lg, speculi

[speculi]

von http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061214/vioxx_federal_trial.html?.v=2
_____________________________________________
AP
Another Court Victory for Vioxx Maker
Thursday December 14, 12:55 am ET
By Mary Foster, Associated Press Writer
Jury Finds for Merck & Co. in Latest Vioxx Lawsuit Trial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A Tennessee man's claim that the maker of the since-withdrawn painkiller Vioxx should be blamed for his 2003 heart attack was rejected Wednesday by a federal jury, the fourth victory for drug maker Merck & Co. in five federal trials.

The seven-member jury answered "no" on a verdict questionnaire when asked if evidence showed that Merck failed to adequately warn Anthony Dedrick's doctors of any known risk posed by Vioxx, or that the lack of such a warning was a cause of Dedrick's heart attack.

Merck lawyers had attacked the credibility of Dedrick, 50, of Waynesboro, Tenn., who was seeking $200,000 from the company.

"The jury felt Merck acted appropriately and that Vioxx did not play a role in Mr. Dedrick's heart attack," said Merck's lead attorney Phil Beck. "And it only took them 90 minutes to do it."

Merck had won three previous federal cases and lost one. In state courts, the company has won three and lost three. Jurors in another state case decided in Merck's favor, but the judge later ordered a retrial.

Merck said earlier this week that it faces about 27,200 personal injury lawsuits over Vioxx, representing about 45,900 plaintiff groups, plus 265 potential class-action lawsuits.

Another 14,000 plaintiffs have entered agreements with Merck suspending the time limit for lawsuits. Suits by more than 3,000 plaintiff groups have been dismissed, although about two-thirds of those may be refiled later.

"Merck has the resources and the commitment to defend itself no matter how many cases it has to pursue," Beck said Wednesday.

So far, Merck has reserved nearly $1.6 billion for legal costs but has resisted setting aside money to pay jury awards or settlements with plaintiffs.

Merck shares fell 28 cents to close at $43.34 on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares rose 8 cents to $43.42 in after-hours trading.

Dedrick's lawyer, Andy Birchfield, acknowledged in his closing statement that Dedrick had other risk factors for his heart attack, including tobacco use, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and cocaine use.

However, he said, Vioxx was also a risk factor and that -- as has been argued in other cases -- Merck failed to adequately warn doctors about the risk.

Birchfield anticipated, and sought to counter, arguments from Merck about Dedrick's past, acknowledging Dedrick had a criminal history and had used cocaine. That information was irrelevant, he told jurors.

"Going in we knew it was a most challenging case," Birchfield said. "Mr. Dedrick had every risk factor and other matters in his past. But we remain convinced that Vioxx was a factor in his heart attack."

In the closing argument for Merck, Beck attacked Dedrick's credibility, noting five worthless-check convictions and allegations that Dedrick lied under oath at a disability hearing.

Beck questioned whether Dedrick was telling the truth when he said he continued taking Vioxx even after being prescribed a narcotic painkiller.
_____________________________________________

lg, speculi

[kosto1234]

Merck steigt und steigt und steigt und keiner merkts

[speculi]

von reuters:
________________________________________________

SANOFIAVENTIS-GARDASIL/ (URGENT)
Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:43 AM ET

(Repeats to attach text to alert)

LYON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> expects sales of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine it has developed with Merck <MRK.N>, to reach as much as 1 billion euros ($1.32 billion) in Europe, the French drugmaker's Chairman and Chief Executive said.

"This type of vaccine will be a true blockbuster," Jean-Francois Dehecq told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, adding sales in Europe could reach 500 million euros to 1 billion euros in the next years.

He was talking ahead of the presentation of Gardasil, the first cervical cancer vaccine which has been developed by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, the 50-50 vaccine joint venture between Sanofi Pasteur and U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co <MRK.N>.
________________________________________________

lg, speculi

[speculi]

von http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070116/merck_vioxx.html?.v=4
____________________________________________

AP
Court Orders Review of Vioxx Action
Tuesday January 16, 5:29 pm ET
By Linda A. Johnson, AP Business Writer
Court Orders Review of Vioxx Class Action Suit; New Trial Starts

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey appellate court panel on Tuesday opened the door to a potential class action lawsuit against Merck & Co. on behalf of people who took its now-withdrawn painkiller Vioxx and want the company to pay for tests to detect possible heart ailments.

The ruling by the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey came as jury selection began in Atlantic City for the next product liability trial over Merck's one-time blockbuster arthritis pill.

That trial, before Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee, is slated to begin with opening arguments Monday. It includes two plaintiffs: the estate of a man who died of a heart attack after taking Vioxx and a retrial for a man who survived a heart attack, lost his first trial against Merck and was granted a retrial because of new evidence.

The ruling by a three-judge panel overturned a decision by Higbee last May in a case that sought to include patients who have not suffered medical problems but took Vioxx for at least six consecutive weeks before Whitehouse Station-based Merck pulled the drug from the market. That move in 2004 came after Merck's own research showed Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Tuesday's decision said the lower court dismissing the case "prematurely terminated plaintiffs' opportunity" to prove they have a legal claim.

"Historically, medical monitoring cases have primarily been in environmental and other chemical exposure cases" in New Jersey, said Esther Berezofsky, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

She said the appellate ruling allows plaintiffs to bring suit again to seek medical monitoring in cases involving medications. Berezofsky said the case would now go back to Higbee for the judge to decide whether to grant class-action status to an undetermined number of former Vioxx users around the country.

"It would be obviously in the tens, potentially hundreds of thousands" of people, Berezofsky said, adding that any who had suffered "silent heart attacks" might need medication or other treatment to prevent another heart attack.

Ted Mayer, a Merck lawyer, said in a statement that the appellate ruling only "instructs a lower court to reconsider the validity of plaintiffs' claims after more fact gathering is completed."

"There is no medical science supporting the plaintiffs' position that they need to be monitored for cardiovascular conditions two years after Vioxx was voluntarily taken off the market," Mayer stated.

He said Merck is considering asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling.

Merck faces more than 27,000 personal injury lawsuits over Vioxx -- more than half of them in Higbee's court -- plus about 265 potential class-action suits. At least 14,000 additional plaintiffs have entered agreements with Merck suspending the time limit for lawsuits.

Merck has won the last four Vioxx trials, three in federal court in New Orleans and one in state court in Alabama. Of the 13 cases that reached verdicts, Merck has won eight, lost four and faces a retrial in one.

Merck had won that case, against Frederick "Mike" Humeston, one of the two plaintiffs in the latest Atlantic City trial. Last August, Higbee overturned that verdict, ruling the jury might have been swayed by information, disclosed after the trial, indicating relatively short-term use of Vioxx increased heart risks despite Merck's claims the risk only increased after 18 months' use.

Attorneys for Merck say pre-existing heart problems and various risk factors caused the heart attacks suffered by Humeston, now 61, and by Brian Hermans, who died of a heart attack at 44.

Hermans' attorney, Mark Lanier, said the man had some signs of hardening of the arteries but was "a world-class racquetball player" whose autopsy showed a heart artery blocked by a large blood clot. Lanier argues Vioxx fostered formation of the clot and thus Hermans' fatal heart attack.

Merck shares rose 16 cents to close at $44.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.

On the Net: Merck & Co.: http://www.merck.com

Text of court decision: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a5661-04.pdf
____________________________________________

lg, speculi

[speculi]

Merck net income slips, sales rise
By Angela Moore
Last Update: 7:43 AM ET Jan 30, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Merck & Co. (MRK) on Tuesday said fourth-quarter net income fell to $ $473.9 million, or 22 cents a share, from $1.12 billion, or 51 cents a share. Excluding the impact of the Sirna Therapeutics acquisition and restructuring charges, Merck said it earned 50 cents a share. The drugmaker said sales rose to $6.04 billion from $5.77 billion. Analysts, on average, expected it to earn 50 cents a share on revenue of $5.37 billion, according to Thomson First Call. Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck backed its 2007 profit range of $2.51 to $2.59 a share, excluding restructuring charges, and backed its reported 2007 profit view of $2.36 to $2.49 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect it to earn $2.61 for 2007, on average. The company also said it remains on track to deliver double-digit compound annual earnings per share growth from 2005 to 2010, excluding one-time items and restructuring charges.

[speculi]

von http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7b8CA…
______________________________________________

Merck sets first quarter forecast, boosts FY view
By Angela Moore
Last Update: 7:41 AM ET Feb 28, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Drug maker Merck & Co. (MRK) on Wednesday said it expects its first-quarter profit will be 63 cents to 67 cents a share, excluding restructuring charges related to site closures and position eliminations, and targets reported first-quarter earnings per share of 58 cents to 64 cents. Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck cited early revenue trends across Merck's range of products. The company also raised its anticipated 2007 earnings forecast range to $2.55 to $2.65 a share, excluding items related to site closures and position eliminations, and its full-year 2007 reported earnings range to $2.40 to $2.55 a share. Analysts, on average, expect it to earn 60 cents a share for the first quarter and $2.62 a share for the year, according to Thomson Financial. Merck said its forecasts do not reflect the establishment of any reserves for any potential liability relating to the Vioxx litigation.
______________________________________________

lg, speculi

[speculi]

von http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7b5D6…

________________________________________________

N.J. jury awards $20 mln in Vioxx trial: report
By Gabriel Madway
Last Update: 10:48 AM ET Mar 12, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A New Jersey jury on Monday ruled that Merck & Co.'s (MRK) Vioxx painkiller contributed to the heart attack of Frederick Humeston, and awarded the Idaho postal worker and his wife $20 million in compensatory damages, according to media reports. Humeston suffered his heart attack in March of 2001, several months before Merck issued a stronger warning about Vioxx's cardiovascular risks, the Associated Press reported. The jury ruled on March 2 in the first phase of the trial that Merck was negligent and did not provide adequate warning about the risks of Vioxx. So far, Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck has won nine Vioxx cases and lost five.
________________________________________________

lg, speculi

[Tatsachen]

!

Dieser Beitrag wurde vom System automatisch gesperrt. Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an [e-mail]

[kosto1234]

Und wieder mal ein neues ATH bei Merck

Börse kann manchmal so einfach sein, v.a. wenn man nicht auf Analysten

hört (die alle nach Vioxx Verkaufsempfehlungen ausgesprochen haben)

Same story as Altria

[djimmi]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 28.999.214 von kosto1234 am 25.04.07 19:45:46

schön, dass noch jemand mi an Board ist, bin seit 20,50€, lustig diese Aktie und wie brutal zersägt, die musste steigen, allerdings wollte ich so bei 100% steuerfreies Plus raus, also so um die 40 oder gehts noch weiter. ggf. wird demnächst von Seiten des Unternehmens ne nette Divierhöhung mitgeteilt, würde in den rasanten Anstieg hübsch reinpassen

[kosto1234]

He he ja ich geh auch mit der Hälfte bei 100% plus raus .. der
Rest ist Spielgeld aber wenn man bedenkt wo die Aktie herkommt habe
ich keine Bedenken .... ausserdem ist die Div auch nicht zu verachten
wie du schon völlig richtig gepostet hast ... was meinst du wie die Aktie steigt wenn die ganze Vioxx Geschichte vergessen ist ...
aber die deutschen Anleger mögen lieber Explorer die vielleicht mal am
Sankt Nimmerleinstag Gewinne machen werden, als in so nen grundsoliden
Pharmawert zu investieren (der locker sowas wie Vioxx verkraftet)

[djimmi]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 29.021.152 von kosto1234 am 26.04.07 20:50:49

hier wurde wirklich brutal Kapital vernichtet und verdichtet, wenn ich mir den Chart so anschaue, dann könnten wir auch noch locker an die 60 USD rannlaufen, der Anstieg fängt gerade an, einigen richtig weh zu tun, dass könnte auch noch ein bischen weiter nach Norden gehen

[djimmi]

was für eine schöne Aktie, kaum noch jemand dabei
so, meine 100% sind voll, so langsam wird gestoppt

[gold-fan]

wo wäre nur unsere Aktie, wenn die dollarschwäche nicht wäre.

Ich hab aber Hoffnung das auch so die Aktie noch länger Spaß machen wird.

[mr_nice69]

heute erste mal am DAx 30 und nichts los hier. Zwar bisher kein guter start aber sollte doch mit der anhaltenden guten Stimmung am Dax bald ins grüne drehen. m.M.

[gold-fan]

na dann schau mal oben auf die ISIN

hier gehts um die amerikanische Merck und die ist im DOW gelisted nicht im DAX