BUSINESS BRIEFS
1999 Vioxx study was marketing tool, report says
Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. — A 1999 Merck & Co. study of its since-withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, touted to participating doctors and patients as meant to show whether Vioxx caused fewer stomach problems than another drug, was primarily a stealth marketing strategy, researchers report.
The true purpose was to get lots of doctors and patients in the habit of using Vioxx just in time for its launch, according to doctors who uncovered internal Merck memos discussing the strategy behind the study, called ADVANTAGE. They did so while reviewing roughly a million Merck documents for plaintiffs' lawyers preparing for trials in Vioxx lawsuits.
Drug companies are widely suspected of doing many such "seeding," or marketing studies, but there's been no "smoking gun" proving it before, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine, which published Merck's original report on ADVANTAGE in 2003 and will publish the new report today.
OIL HAS 1ST SUB-$113 CLOSE SINCE MAY
NEW YORK — Crude prices settled below $113 a barrel for the first time in more than three months yesterday as Tropical Storm Fay steered clear of oil-producing infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 90 cents to settle at $112.87 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier rising as high as $115.35.
It was the first time crude ended below $113 since May 1. The contract on Friday settled at $113.77 a barrel, about $35, or 24 percent, lower than its trading record of $147.27, set July 11.
LOWE'S POSTS WEAK 2ND-QUARTER PROFIT
CHICAGO — Repairs to drought-stricken flower beds and sales of freezers designed to hold bought-in-bulk food helped Lowe's Cos. Inc. post a better-than-expected second-quarter profit.
But the nation's faltering economy and sluggish housing industry still sent profit at the nation's second-largest home improvement chain down nearly 8 percent.
For the three months ending Aug. 1, Lowe's earned $938 million, or 64 cents per share, boosted in part by consumers who undertook small outdoor gardening projects — repairing their yards from last year's drought — and bought freezers to accommodate bulk food purchases to cope with soaring grocery prices.
$1.8 BILLION OIL PORT PLANNED OFF TEXAS
HOUSTON — An oil terminal and pipeline network expected to be built off the Texas Gulf Coast and open in about two years would be capable of handling nearly 20 percent of the nation's daily imported oil.
Demand from expanding refineries along the coast, from Freeport to Port Arthur, is driving the $1.8 billion project, executives of the joint partnership said yesterday. It will be the second offshore port in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Texas Offshore Port System, or TOPS, is a joint venture of Enterprise Products Partners LP and Teppco Partners LP, both based in Houston, and Oiltanking Holding Americas Inc., a subsidiary of Germany's privately held Marquard & Bahls AG.
HOME BUILDERS' OUTLOOK BRIGHTER
LOS ANGELES — Home builders are a little more optimistic about the prospects for home sales over the next six months, but an index reflecting the sector's confidence overall remained at an all-time low, an industry trade association said yesterday.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index remained unchanged this month at 16, where it's been since July.
But benchmarks for sales improved: The gauge of current sales conditions climbed one point to 16, while an index of builders' sales expectations over the next six months rose by two points to 25.
The slightly brighter outlook for sales comes as builders factored in potential benefits from the landmark housing stimulus legislation enacted last month.
