I, for one, appreciate the great amount of effort and emotion that you have expended on this thread. Be that as it may, in the end, the story of Agouron will be written by the Agouron management and scientific team. I have spent a considerable amount of time listening carefully to what the people who really count have had to say about Viracept, and can only draw the following conclusions:
1. Viracept has, by far, the best side effect profile.
2. It is the easiest to take, and therefore very important in terms of compliance which is critical.
3. As far as all the evidence available to us today is concerned, it offers the hope of having the best cross resistence profile, this in spite of the negative spin out of Toronto on a small trial that was conducted using a flawed protocal. This, in sharp contradiction to a 12-patient trial which showed wonderful results.
So, the conclusion is, the important, informed clinicians are using Viracept as the protease inhibitor of choice and that protease inhibitors are the backbone of the three-drug regiment and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
We all hope that new therapies and new drugs are down the road, but for the time being in my opinion there is nothing I have heard that will interfere with the Viracept story for the next 1-1/2 to 2 years. We all assume that if the company continues to perform, the stock price will follow the fundamentals. The market, in spite of its day to day fluctuations, always rewards success over the long run, and I am certain the Agouron story is no exception. On Tuesday, as we all know, another chapter will be written in the Agouron story when they release their first quarter results. I prefer to adhere to the stated philosophy of the Agouron management which is to walk quietly and carry a big stick which is performance. As Doug Lind of Dean Witter Morgan has said, Agouron always underpromises and overperforms. This sounds good to me.
John, just rethink your position. I, for one, have found a lot of substance in your posts, even though you do get carried away from time to time. |
