Subject: Merck Says Near-Term Profit Will Slow From Recent History of 25% Growth 
Date: Published: 11/14/89 (37 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Merck Says Near-Term Profit Will Slow
    From Recent History of 25% Growth
    ----
    By Michael Waldholz
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    Merck & Co. said "near-term earnings growth will be
 somewhat slowed" by heavy research and sales costs.  The
 company's earnings had been growing about 25% of late.

[64 lines irrelevant to AIDS have been omitted.  -- sysop]

    Merck said for the first time that it is developing a
 drug, called MK-217, for use in treating osteoporosis, the
 thinning of bone mass that afflicts mostly elderly women.  The
 drug, licensed from Istituto Gentili, also may block the
 spread of certain cancers.  Dr. Vagelos said the company is in
 the middle of a race to develop a drug for acquired immune
 deficiency syndrome based on the inhibition of a protease
 enzyme in the AIDS virus.  He said Merck doesn't yet have a
 candidate drug based on the research, but "there is good
 reason to believe that someone will come up with an effective
 and safe" one in the next few years.
    Dr. Vagelos said efforts to gain marketing approval from
 the U. S. government for the drug Zocor has been slower than
 expected.  Zocor is the company's new version of its
 cholesterol-lowering drug Mevacor, which was first marketed
 in 1988.

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