J&J OTC ANALGESIC SALES WERE APPROXIMATELY $ 640 MIL. IN 1988

J&J OTC ANALGESIC SALES WERE APPROXIMATELY $ 640 MIL. IN 1988, according to average market share figures for the U.S. analgesic market reported by Johnson & Johnson's new Chairman Ralph Larsen at the company's April 26 annual meeting. Holding a 32% average share in dollars and units in the $ 2 bil. market, McNeil retained the leadership position by about 13 share points. The nearest competitor, American Home Products' Whitehall Labs (Advil and Anacin) controlled 19% of the market in terms of 1988 dollar shares, Larsen said, or about $ 380 mil. Total AHP analgesic sales, disclosed by American Home Products in a recent factbook on the company's 1988 performance, were $ 478 mil. As a result of the inroads by the OTC ibuprofens, McNeil's analgesic "has declined a bit from its 1987 high." He added that though smaller, the position "has held up remarkably well." Larsen attributed part of Tylenol's continued strength to the 1988 introduction of the Gelcap gelatin-coated solid caplet. According to Larsen, 1988 rankings for the other major players in the analgesic market are: Bristol-Myers' Excedrin, Bufferin and the ibuprofen Nuprin had a combined 13% share, or about $ 260 mil. and Bayer (Sterling) was next with a 10% share (sales about $ 200 mil.). The company's anti-diarrheal product, Imodium-AD, "is outperforming its objectives," Larsen told shareholders. The cherry-flavored OTC version of Janssen's loperamide HCI was introduced in 1988. The company is currently launching a line of children's vitamins under the Sesame Street name. The vitamins are produced without artificial colors and flavorings, J&J says. Ortho Pharmaceutical's Ortho EST and Ortho EST-Plus hormone replacement therapy is one of the firm's eight NDAs pending at FDA (see chart). The application for Retin-A as a treatment for photoaged skin is also scheduled for filing this year, J&J Pharmaceuticals Vice Chairman Robert Wilson noted. J&J has 27 INDs further back in the pipeline, Wilson said. Among the INDs are Ortho's atisoban, an oxytonin antagonist to prevent premature labor. Atisoban and bemoradan, a cardiotonic, are both in early Phase II. Bemoradan is being studied at the R. W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, the company's 1988 project to consolidate the drug R&D effort. The firm is also working on a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, sabeluzole, which is in Phase I at the Janssen Research Foundation Worldwide. The company's 1989 pharmaceutical R&D expenditures have been increased by $ 44 mil. to $ 429 mil., representing about 57% of the total $ 747 mil. R&D budget. R&D spending for consumer products has been upped to $ 120 mil. In a discussion of its major pharmaceutical products, Wilson said J&J controls 41% of new oral contraceptive prescriptions in the U.S. market, led by Ortho's Ortho-Novum 7/7/7 triphasic product. J&J has a 47% share of the U.S. antifungals market, bolstered by the late 1987 introduction of Terazol (terconazole) vaginal cream and the November 1988 debut of a suppository form. Chart omitted.