Atherogenics off 17%+ on muddy PII (CARTII) data:
>>CHICAGO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Shares of AtheroGenics Inc. (AGIX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) fell sharply on Monday after an analyst downgraded the stock based on the effectiveness of the company's experimental drug to treat hardening of the arteries.
The shares fell 17 percent after the company said the drug, AGI-1067, reduced plaque an average of 2.3 percent in a Phase IIb trial called CART-2 -- less than the 3.8 percent indicated when it released interim results from the study in September, but still considered statistically significant.
Martin Auster, a Wachovia Securities analyst who downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "market perform," said AtheroGenics could delay forming a partnership for the drug until results of its Phase III trial are released, likely in the second half of 2005.
"We feel that CART-2 data reduces the possibility of a substantial upfront payment from a major pharmaceutical partner and yields limited incremental visibility into the ongoing Phase III ARISE trial," Auster wrote in a research report.
AtheroGenics, in a release, said it believed the CART-2 data showed evidence that the anti-inflammatory drug had the ability to reduce plaque in coronary arteries over a 12-month period.
Lucy Lu, an analyst with First Albany Capital who rates the stock "neutral," called the CART-2 study encouraging but difficult to interpret and said it did not substantially raise confidence for the pivotal Phase III trial.
"It would be challenging for the company to form a partnership with favorable terms based on today's data," Lu wrote in a research report.
Shares of Atlanta-based AtheroGenics were down $5.43, or 17.3 percent, at $25.94 on the Nasdaq on Monday afternoon.<<
Cheers, Tuck |
