T:36
There are several who are MUCH better than me at this, but throughout the day, I'll hunt up some info for you. Here is an article from Business Week this summer on Paracelsian:
Business Week: July 22, 1996
Department: Inside Wall Street
FRESH PROMISE IN THE AIDS FIGHT
Investment pro Jack Rivkin, senior vice-president of Travelers Group, parent
of Travelers Insurance and Smith Barney, is used to making bets on
health-care stocks. His most recent venture has led him to a little-known
company: Paracelsian (PRLN), a biotech outfit engaged in developing drugs
from herbal sources and designing tests for improved cancer diagnosis.
``It's the first time we've put money in such a development-stage company.
But Paracelsian is employing very good science,'' says Rivkin, who invested
$1.5 million for a 5% stake, at 2 3/4 a share. He has influenced two other
groups to invest $500,000.
The company is testing a ``novel kinase inhibitor'' called PN355 that, in
the lab, was effective in helping stop HIV from replicating. The company
presented its results at the International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver.
Dr. David Cohen of the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Tumor
Biology and the National Institutes of Health, who worked on the research,
said PN355 ``has an excellent toxicity profile'' and may limit drastically
the ability of the virus to spread in the body. Since then, Paracelsian stock
has rallied, going up to 3 3/4. It had skidded to 1 on Jan. 25, 1996, after
climbing to 7 1/2 last September. Paracelsian went public in 1992 at 5 1/2.
Also high on Paracelsian is Leo Rishty, editor of the newsletter Unique
Situations, who notes the company is also testing an anticancer drug that
blocks secretion of prostate antigen.
BY GENE G. MARCIAL
Copyright 1996 The McGraw-Hill Companies All rights reserved. Any use is
subject to (1) terms and conditions of this service and (2) rules stated
under ``Read This First'' in the ``About Business Week'' area. |
