From a dow jones story:
<<Despite stopping the clinical trials, Synaptic Chief Executive Dr. Kathleen Mullinix found some good news.
"The positive is Synaptic successfully found the appropriate target for drugs to treat urinary retention for enlarged prostate," Mullinix said. "More important, there were no cardiovascular side effects that are associated with other (BPH) drugs on the market."
Even more important, Merck's clinical trials confirmed Synaptic discovered the appropriate target for BPH in the alpha 1-a receptor, according to Mullinix.
"At this point, it is clear that Synaptic's development mechanism is validated in the study" which question the compound's safety and efficacy, Mullinix said. "Efficacy is not the issue here."
The reasons for discontinuing the trials weren't related to the target or mechanism, Mullinix said, but the limited oral bioavailability.
There was also concern about the treatment's interaction with other drugs, Mullinix added. "Most people who are treated for enlarged prostate are older and take other medicines. We don't want to prescribe other medicine that would interfere with others...."
"Fundamentally, this is not a setback at all because the company has $50 million in cash and a broad technology platform that has not been exploited from a partnering situation," according to Ethan Lovell, an analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. Synaptic "can do additional deals ... and are quite advanced in various (drug) programs.">>
The prudential analyst, Robert Toth, was more cautious on the stock today, but did note that it is now an attractive takeover target, worth 9/share.
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