Rocketman: Hope you are recovering well and not in need of the Vicodin soon.
Thank you for the extensive response to my investment decision query. Your comments were helpful. I decided to invest a little more than I originally planned. I put in an eschwab order Sunday evening for GZTC, LGND, and ISIP. I purchased GZTC at 7.75 and ISIP at 15.75; I tried for LGND at the ask price but missed the boat. I guess the stock was already bid up higher before the market opened, there were orders in front of mine, or bigger fish were buying (perhaps someone could enlighten me on this). I still wanted Ligand and decided to buy at a higher price, 11.875, on Tuesday, and chalked up the difference to a learning experience.
GENZL followers might be interested to know that GENZL's regional rep called David at his office on Thursday. (For those of you who do not know, David is my husband. He is a neuroradiologist M.D. practicing in the Fort Worth area. Last June, he had his left knee "Carticelled" in Boston and is doing very well. A year ago, he couldn't walk; a month ago, a full day at Knott's Berry Farm (kind of like Six Flags) with the kids was no problem. Anyway, the rep said GENZL was having a training session at Baylor Hospital in Dallas the next day. She said that the Fort Worth orthopod who had provided David's local post-surgical follow up care had signed up for the training. Two other Fort Worth doctors have already been trained in Boston. By the way, these three orthopods are considered among the best in this area.
Genzyme's most recent quarterly report stated that they would be changing their training emphasis to offerings at three regional centers, I assume in addition to Boston. The training is being offered at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Stanford in California, and Rush Presbyterian (I've heard of it but can't remember where it is). This change is to make the training more convenient to the doctors whose schedules and budgets might preclude a cross-country trip to Boston.We had the impression that Genzyme is really geared up for post-approval action.
I talked to the wife of one of the orthopods who trained in Boston over Spring Break. She said he has one patient who would be a candidate now. She also said the training session spent a lot of time teaching the doctors how to deal with the insurance companies in getting approval for coverage of the procedure. From our personal experience in battling our insurance company for coverage of David's surgery, Genzyme was very helpful in providing information to rebut the insurance company's excuses for not covering, and we were eventually successful. Don't even get me started on insurance companies! By the way Rocketman, I loved your comments a couple of months back on the weasels.
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