Message from harry zelatis on Nov 1 1996 4:28PM EST
God bless you Rick,thank you for your response.
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No sweat. Hey, this company is fun. The product (PAI-2) that they licensed to the Hoechst joint venture is, according to the Cistron 10-K, in phase I clinical trials in Australia. A friend of mine works at the joint venture (Biotech Australia Pty. Limited), and they are very respectworthy. I am also surprised that, on a day where the long-awaited news was finally released, less than 10% of the outstanding shares traded. That feels (not exactly a science) as if some knowledgable shareholders are sitting tight. On the other hand, demand was not exactly overwhelming.
Does anyone know how well the Immune Response cancer vaccine study is going? I found a note in the Genetic Therapy, Inc. (the sister company to SyStemix in the Sandoz gene therapy plan) quarterly report (1st/92) about the Cistron license......... "During the quarter, we signed additional licensing agreements for genes that express three optentially valuable therapeutic proteins: Factor IX, a normal clotting protein that is missing or defective in patients with hemophilia B; interleukin 1-beta (IL-1beta), an immune regulating cytokine that may be helpful in treating cancer; and the LDL receptor, which may be helpful in........"
So, if we can find out how things are going in the Immune Response studies, we might get a feel for the potential of the concept licensed by Cistron to GTI/Sandoz.
I'm finding several interesting items in the 10-K. I'll write them up some time this weekend. If you take today's closing ask, the market cap is about $12.7 million, for a company with an on-going (IMO, respected) reagents business that is going to get 11 of the 21 million in about two weeks. They have distribution agreements with Genzyme and R&D Systems (TECH, Techne), and they are developing a diagnostic for periodontal disease with R&D Systems. The 10-K also quietly says, after mentioning the Sandoz and Hoechst stuff, "In December 1994, Cistron granted a sublicense to another company for use of IL-1 in its pharmaceutical research program". This is likely nothing, but some partners like to keep projects quiet. I do know that IL-1 has been mentioned as a component for adjuvants. Other stuff.....they currently market TNF and IL-6 assays (both of which I knew), and they are developing an assay for "ICE" (interleukin converting enzyme). These guys seem to know their inflammation.
At a market cap of $12.7 million, I must be missing something?? I'm not done with the 10-K yet, so more later.
Rick |
