V1, I have looked a little more into ERGO and have some initial observations.
Science wise, there's not that much to look at. ERGO is using a Parkison's drug, bromocriptine (Sandoz's Parlodel), putting into a quick release capsule, and giving it to type II diabetics. It seems to have a modest effect as monotherapy (0.44% reduction in Hb1Ac) and a somewhat stronger effect in conjuction with sulfanylureas (1.0% reduction in Hb1Ac) (although it wasn't clear to me on my first look as to how the adjunct result compared to sulfanylureas as monotherapy). As a comparision, WLA's press release on Rezulin indicated that its Hb1Ac reductions were greater than 3% bringing high levels (11%) down to an acceptable (8%).
Thus from a science side, Ergoset is merely a re-formulation of a drug that was approved 20 years ago.
ERGO is also trying some combination trials using another dopamine agonist made by SBH, so its primary focus seems to be new uses for existing drugs.
ERGO has filed an NDA on Ergoset, which is its only product. It is looking for a partner to develop the drug. Its ability to synergize or compete with Rezulin or other TZDs or Targretin and other rexinoids is unknown, as are its abilities to synergize with other diabetes drugs.
The abstract on obesity took very iffy to me and the mouse data on reductions of insulin and tryglycerides in ob/ob and db/db mice seemed to be somewhat strain specific.
Several brokers (H&Q, Cowen, UBS) have BUY or STRONG BUY ratings which I think largely reflect the belief that the NDA will be approved, and ERGO will get a piece of a very large pie.
ERGO is small (73 employees) and is also targeting obesity (although the abstract on humans looked weak and on the mice, it seemed to me to be largely due to the fact that the mice on the drug ate less. The drug does cause nausea and a stuffy nose, so I'm not sure if mice lost weight because they were given a great diet pill or simply didn'tfeel well. In humans, when food intake was controled, the metaboloic end points looked virtually identical between treated and untreated.)
Its stock is thinly traded (30,000 per day) with about 13 million outstanding shares. |
