The Basel, Switzerland-based giant's next big experimental drug is an arthritis pain medication called Prexige.
One thing that will certainly benefit Prexige, however, is a thinning of the competition.
Cardiologists on Novartis' study say Prexige does not appear to have any perceivable heart side effects.
If Prexige is more powerful than Vioxx and Celebrex, it will give Novartis a significant marketing advantage.
Prexige should be filed with the FDA by the end of this year.
Farkouh also points out that in the trial, Prexige seemed safer than ibuprofen.
However, Farkouh says that he would not prescribe Vioxx to patients with heart trouble while Celebrex and Prexige are available.
"For competitive reasons, we have not disclosed much about Prexige, " Costa says.
On the horizon, Novartis just submitted a new drug application for an arthritis drug, Prexige, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Novartis also has a new anti-inflammatory, Prexige, for acute and chronic pain.
It is interesting, though, that Prexige was compared to Celebrex, not Vioxx.
Farkouh contends that the benefit of naproxen simply makes Prexige look worse.
For instance, Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ) is testing its new arthritis drug, Prexige, in 31, 000 patients.
But he points to one of the company's new drugs as a potential windfall: Prexige, an arthritis treatment previously known only by the code-name Cox-189.
That doesn't bode well for Novartis, which is hoping to launch its Prexige in the U.S. someday, or indeed for any new arthritis pain treatment.
Still, the Prexige abstract is a highly promising sign for Novartis.
Novartis began lifting the curtain today on its arthritis drug, Prexige.
Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ) has decided to hold off on applying for approval for a similar drug called Prexige.
Prexige, another similar drug being developed by Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ), has been delayed for at least a year.
One of the reasons the Prexige trial, called Target, was expected to help clear the air is that Prexige was compared to both ibuprofen and naproxen.
Prexige will compete with Celebrex, sold by Pharmacia (nyse: PHA - news - people ) and Pfizer, and with Vioxx, made by Merck.
Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ), which is developing a Cox-2 drug called Prexige, has decided on even bigger clinical trials than Merck.
For Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ), this is good news that will bolster the chances that Prexige will be a sales blockbuster.
Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ), which is testing its own Cox-2 drug Prexige, also contends that its drug is safe on the heart.
Right now, Costa says, the company does not know what the data from its clinical trials will show, but Novartis is very optimistic about Prexige based on earlier data.
The trial compares Novartis' (nyse: NVS - news - people ) experimental cox-2 drug Prexige to two older drugs, ibuprofen and naproxen, in 18, 325 osteoarthritis sufferers.
Novartis hopes to show that Prexige avoids nasty ulcers better than the older compounds without increasing cardiovascular complications, even in patients who are taking low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks.
In an abstract published on the Web site of the American College of Rheumatology, Prexige stopped knee arthritis pain better and faster than Celebrex, the current leader in the arthritis market.
In a large trial testing of the cox-2 drug from Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ), Prexige, some saw hints that ibuprofen might up heart risk.
Timothy Anderson, an analyst at Prudential Equity Group, wrote in a note yesterday that liver toxicities seen with Prexige could be a commercial "deal killer" but that the results may help Merck.
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