Sonata, which American Home Product's pharmaceutical unit Wyeth-Ayerst hopes to launch next year, is designed to induce sleep without producing a groggy feeling the next morning. So when we get a product that people have utter confidence in, that will be a gold mine for someone. Perhaps the most striking of all recent drug news were reports that Evista, Eli Lilly's new osteoporosis medicine, could also be effective in preventing heart disease and breast cancer in older women. Clinical trials of the drug's ability to stave off heart attacks begins in May, with testing of the impact on breast cancer to start later this year. The implications could be huge for Lilly.
Women are the most frequent sufferers because the condition is often linked to menopause.
The pill is the first such medication to win federal approval in more than 20 years. The drug companies aren't the only ones that will benefit from boomer products. Only this time, the stuff will really work.