Bloomberg
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s shares
rose 53 percent in heavy trading,
after the company said it had won patent protection for gene- based methods it is
developing to fight disease.
Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology and genomics company,
which had 22 million shares
outstanding as of November, rose 2 3/8 to close at 6 13/16 in trading of 27 million.
Yesterday, the company's stock rose
1 9/32, or 40 percent, to close at 4 7/16.
The patents cover technology Ariad is using to develop oral versions of treatments such as
insulin for diabetics, interferon
for infections such as hepatitis, and erythropoietin, sold by Amgen in an intravenous form
called Epogen. The patents also
cover separate technology for developing a treatment for an immune system disorder
called graft-versus-host disease.
Analysts said the patents are an important step in the development of the company. Now
that the company's strategy for
designing gene-based treatments has been patented, potential partners and larger
drugmakers will be forced to strike
agreements with Ariad before using its approach. It will be some time before investors or
the company will see whether
the approach will translate into effective drugs, though.
The heavy trading volume in Ariad's shares today may also be due to general enthusiasm
for the genomics field. Genomics
companies make money in part by generating and selling genetic information that may
serve as a blueprint for developing
molecules that precisely target the causes of disease.
''Everybody is looking for the next big genomics hit,'' said Eric Ende, an analyst with
Lehman Brothers who doesn't
officially cover Ariad. ''It's easy for your typical investor to look for the next one -- and
I'm not saying this isn't the next
one.''
Shares of PE Corp.'s Celera Genomics Group rose 29 percent yesterday after the
company said it had mapped more than
90 percent of the material in the human genome, the genetic blueprint for the human body.
Researchers expect the
sequence to be a starting point in efforts to develop new drugs.
Celera shares have more than quintupled since late October, when the company said it
had mapped 1.2 billion human
DNA base pairs, the alphabet of the genetic code, or about a third of the human genome.
Other stocks on the move
recently include Maxygen Inc., Affymetrix Inc., Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., Nanogen
Inc. and Human Genome Sciences
Inc.
While Celera shares fell 18 1/2 today, the stock closed at 223 1/2, while Ariad's shares
have traded at less than 3 for
most of the past year.
''Unfortunately for Ariad, they have had to endure a couple years of very lackluster stock
performance'' even though they
have been pursuing sound scientific research, said Jeffrey Kraws, a biotechnology analyst
with Gruntal & Co., who
doesn't formally cover the stock.
''I think the stock is reacting to years and years of technological advances the company
has made that now are coming
forth.''
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