Looking a little more closely at Panacos . . .
Management starts with CEO Ackerman, who jumped over here after having his company Cyclis bought by ArQule (and who probably bled out shares under the radar there; here he'll have to file). It also includes CSO Wild, who co-discovered Trimeris' Fuzeon. Fuzeon has a had a difficult time of it, largely because it's an IV formulation. PANC is developing PA-457 as an oral formulation with a half life of ~12 hours, meaning it could be formulated for once daily dosing. It doesn't seem to inhibit many of the CYP450 enzymes; in particular it is not metabolized by CYP3A4, which is why the company can say it has no interactions with protease inhibitors. So it can be used as a combo, which is a good thing, because a one log reduction in viral load isn't that great by itself, even if it does take on HIV strains resistant to PIs. So far, we have not seen any studies involving combos.
Finally, we have to look at MYGN's "viral budding" inhibitor as direct competition, though behind in the race at the moment.
Everything else in the pipe, including an intriguing oral fusion inhibitor, is pretty early. As such the stock looks a bit pricey, so just watching for now.
Cheers, Tuck |
