Procept (PRCT): 50% rise on high volume. Why? Message Board

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Biotech / Medical : Procept (PRCT): 50% rise on high volume. Why?

PRCT 30.42

-1.1%

3:59 PM EST

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To: John Crovelli who wrote (30)	10/6/1996 4:27:00 PM
From: Fred Ayres	of 455

News of the PRO 2000 topical cream for the prevention of sexually transmitted disease caught my attention. This cream which is used prior to sex inactivates the AIDS virus as well as other pathogens. There is government funding for this research and clearly there is a need for such a medical device. I called Procept investor relations and requested an annual report. Procept has been in business since the mid 80's and as yet has had no profitable year. The human clinical trial of PRO 2000 was abandoned after several volunteers experienced adverse side effects. Procept has reduced the dose levels with the expectation that side effects will disappear or be reduced. I was a bit surprised to learn that the PRO 2000 used in the clinical trial (which was introduced via drip into the blood stream) was the same PRO 2000 to be used in the cream formulation. I suspect that the topical cream may have indeed been an afterthought. Considering the government has provided a multi-million dollar budget for such devices the double use of PRO 2000 may have been deemed a good idea. A search of the US Patenet Database (seach Yahoo for patent and follow the links) for Procept revealed 3 patents US 5,512,687, US 5,489,441, and US 5,238,689. What was not mentioned in the annual report or in any press releases is that the active component of PRO 2000 is Ruthenium Red, a dye. I do not reject the medicinal properties of Ru-red, but I am concerned about the whether topical PRO 2000 can ever be patented. The annual report says that Procept will try to obtain a composition of matter patent. If that is the case it will have to be very broad, and I imagine it will not hold up very well. As it turns out the AIDS virus and many pathogens for that matter are not very robust. Simply washing hands with soap is suffiecient to kill/inactivate pathogens. The soap acts to break up the membrane or molecular coat of the pathogen. The nature of a vaginal cream is similar. The cream does not cure or treat HIV. It simply acts acts to destroy the virus for a period of several hours. For this reason I feel PRO 2000 is not very specific and open to considerable competition. Anything that is tollerated in the vagina and inactivates the virus is thus a likely candidate. A search of the US Patent Database revealed several patents for products that are similar to PRO 2000. Keep in mind these are ISSUED patents. If you are placing a bet on PRO 2000 as a medical device read the patent first. As for the outlook of the company I feel topical PRO 2000 will not hold up to the competition and will not be able to generate revenue. Fred... my $0.02

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