MONSANTO <MTC> UNIT SEES OPERATING LOSS IN 1987
Monsanto Corp's G.D. Searle and Co unit
said it will report an operating loss for 1987, mainly due to
expenses for research and development.
    Searle chairman Sheldon Gilgore said Searle's operating
loss in 1987 will be less than the 87 mln dlr operating loss in
1986.
    He said Searle's first quarter sales will be up 21.8 pct to
179 mln dlrs from 147 mln dlrs in the year ago quarter. In 1986
Searle's sales were 665 mln dlrs.
    Gilgore said the company intends to have sales of three
billion dlrs by the mid-1990s.
    He said the company anticipates approval in Japan, the
U.S., Italy, Spain and the U.K. for its ulcer treatment drug
Cytotech.
    He also said that in a paper not yet published the drug was
shown to prevent a flare-up of ulcers for a longer period of
time than Tagamet, made by SmithKline Beckman Corp <SKB>.
    Other drugs in Searle's pipeline include tissue plasminogen
activator (TPA), made by a different process than Genentech's
<GENE> TPA, expected to be approved for marketing this year.
   
 Reuter
