From the Boston Sunday Globe today:
Cambridge NeuroScience Inc.
Elkan Gamzu says he is discouraged, but not disappointed, that the pivotal clinical testing of Cambridge NeuroScience's proposed drug to treat stroke patients and brain injuries was halted last year.
That decision, made after initial results showed little improvement, led to layoffs and a steep drop in the stock price, and it raised concerns about the company's future. The cancellation of further testing of the drug, Cerestat, also illustrates the other side of drug discovery: the high risks involved with a compound that tests well in an imals then fails to show significant efficacy in humans.
''Biotech companies are under a microscope by shareholders and media compared to the large drug companies, where you rarely read about the cancellation of drug projects because they have so many other things going on,'' said Gamzu, Cambridge NeuroScience president. He recently met with Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, the large German pharmaceutical company that financed the clinical trials and halted them.
Cambridge NeuroScience, which now employs about 60 people, down from just over 100 last year, has seen its stock drop from a high of 14 3/8 in November 1996 to a record low of 1 1/2 last December. The company, which raised money in early 1997, still has sufficient financing for about three years, said Gamzu. Last year the company lost $13.8 million, or 79 cents a share.
Friday, its stock closed at 2 1/16, up 7/32.
Still, Gamzu is optimistic, pointing to plans to expand a clinical trial of a proposed drug to treat neuropathic pain following surgery. The company is also developing drugs to treat multiple sclerosis and certain eye diseases.
Looking back over the last five years, Gamzu said there is very little he would do differently. But now, with the low stock price and no near-term drug to create revenue, he is exploring finding a buyer or merging with another small biotech company.
''It would be nice to see greater consolidation in the biotech community. We are looking at all options.'' |
