Well, Armen sure is talking big . . . speculation could cream my position here in virtual play money land, but could set up for a much bigger fall later on. FWIW, I shorted AGEN for a swing trade after the run up following the restart of trials. Made a few nickels and am out, thank goodness.
>>NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Antigenics Inc. (NasdaqNM:AGEN - News) Chief Executive Garo Armen said on Monday he was in discussions with several big drug companies to co-develop its cancer treatment, and expects its proceeds from the deal to be worth between $1 billion and $2 billion.
"If you take the ImClone/Bristol-Myers deal as the upper reference point I would hope for something if not of that magnitude then at least in that ballpark," Armen said, referring to those two companies' $2 billion colon cancer drug partnership.
Armen told Reuters three companies are front runners in discussions to acquire U.S. rights to the treatment, called Oncophage, and that he expects to announce a partner by the end of next year.
Oncophage is considered a therapeutic vaccine because it is designed to help the immune system better fight cancer after initial signs of the disease. It is currently in late stage, or Phase III, trials for kidney cancer and melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer. It is in earlier stage trials for other kinds of cancer.
Armen said the biotech company will only consider a transaction in which it derives at least a 50 percent share of the drug's profit.
Oncophage is the lead product for the New York-based company, which currently sells no human medicines and lost $17.8 million in the third quarter.
Armen said Antigenic's drug-making technology, although still being perfected, is powerful enough to make the company a significant part of the industry.
It is developing several dozen new drugs, most of them personalized cancer vaccines in which tumor cells are taken from a patient's body, processed, and then re-injected into the patient's skin to elicit a strong immune response.
Armen said that if the kidney cancer results are positive, the company would expect to file for marketing approval in early 2005. <<
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Cheers, Tuck |
