Biotechs Center Stage at ASH Confab
By Adam Feuerstein
Senior Writer
12/2/2004 8:02 AM EST
URL: thestreet.com
The annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology kicks off Saturday, Dec. 4, and will attract thousands of doctors to hear the latest medical research on blood-related disease, including cancer.
This year's meeting, taking place in San Diego over four days, also draws the attention of Wall Street. Unlike past confabs, ASH 2004 lacks a singular, high-profile biotech event, but that doesn't mean investors will be tuning out this year. There will be important clinical updates from the likes of:
Celgene (CELG:Nasdaq)
Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM:Nasdaq)
Genta (GNTA:Nasdaq)
Maxim Pharmaceuticals (MAXM:Nasdaq)
SuperGen (SUPG:Nasdaq)
And as always, biotech heavyweights Amgen (AMGN:Nasdaq) and Genentech (DNA:NYSE) will make their presence felt.
These players will provide some of the more compelling investment stories to keep an eye on.
Celgene in the Spotlight
Celgene has a full slate of presentations inside the San Diego Convention Center, but the company's activities outside the hall will grab more of the spotlight. On Sunday, Dec. 5, Celgene will hold an analyst meeting where it will make public data from its phase II study of Revlimid in patients with the so-called 5q minus form of myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, a cancer-like disease of the blood marrow.
These data are important for two reasons: First, Celgene has told investors that it expects to use data from this phase II study to seek marketing approval for Revlimid from the Food and Drug Administration during the first quarter of 2005.
But as I reported recently, a spate of patient deaths in this study has raised safety questions about Revlimid's use as a treatment for patients with this low-risk, low-grade form of MDS. The ASH meeting will be the first complete airing of Revlimid's efficacy and safety in this patient population, which will provoke a lot of discussion and debate about the drug's chances for approval.
Head-to-Head With Millennium Pharmaceuticals
Celgene currently derives the bulk of its revenue and profit from the off-label sale of the leprosy drug Thalomid as a treatment for patients with advanced multiple myeloma, a type of cancer formed by malignant plasma cells found in bone marrow. Data to be presented at ASH this year will explore the use of Thalomid in newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, with its multiple myeloma drug Velcade, represents the major challenge (and comparator) to Celgene's Thalomid. At this year's meeting, Millennium will present midstage clinical data on Velcade use in newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. Millennium also will make a detailed, formal presentation of Velcade data in more advanced patients, although many of these data were previously released..... |
