Here is an extract from a Dow Jones article on short sellers that discusses Agouron:
Agouron Pharmaceuticals. You might think Agouron would be exempt from attack, given the nature of its business: It produces an anti-AIDS drug called Viracept, one of the so-called protease inhibitors that, in a cocktail with other drugs, have managed to arrest the virus's development.
Agouron has become a short-seller target because Viracept is one of
the second wave of such drugs to hit the market. Some critics say it
won't live up to intense advance billing, which has helped the stock
nearly triple from its 1996 low.
Agouron, a biotechnology company that hasn't yet posted a profit, is hoping that the drug will start giving it profitable quarters within the next 12 months. Bullish analysts agree.
Early indications from doctors and analysts are that side effects, notably diarrhea, are worse than expected -- although not necessarily
worse than those of competing drugs. The side effects are controllable
with standard medicines.
One big problem is that, because the drug was a late entry, it was
aimed initially at patients who had taken other protease inhibitors and developed a resistance. For those high-risk patients, one doctor who has offered patients the drug at an AIDS clinic, the results haven't met the high initial hopes. For patients who haven't yet tried other protease inhibitors, this doctor says, results are good.
Little Agouron also has decided to handle its own marketing, and is
facing an uphill battle against giants such as Merck & Co.
Agouron says initial studies on side effects and resistance make
Viracept look good. Agouron spokeswoman Donna Nichols says, "We believe that the best response to the short investor is strong corporate performance: At Agouron performance is our focus."
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This piece talks about "the uphill battle against giants such as Merck," but doesn't refer to Viracept's sales success in new scrips. Interesting point that trying the drug on already resistant patients clouded some doctor's views of its effectiveness.
Peter |
