From Financial Post: Toronto. Front Page Headline:
Nymox shares soar on news of Alzheimer's breakthrough.
The share prices of biotech researcher NYMOX nearly doubled in NY and Montreal yesterday aftger the company claimed it had found a possible cause of Alz disease. Trading in the shares was halted for two hours yesterday. The release met widespread criticism in medical and brokerage circles, but the shares closed higher at 12 3/4. Volume was almost 1.6 million shares in NY. One analyst said such volume was highly unusual since the senior management group owns about 70% of Nymox's 18.6 million shares outstanding. "A big short position had built up and I sensed a short squeeze in the stock, " he added. But the market capitalization reached about $325 million. Nymox, which went public in 1995 and has since raised about $10 million in private placements, told NY conference that "spherons" in the brain may progressively increase in size until they become plaques that cause Alz. It also claimed it could develop drugs to block progress of the spherons. "our research on drugs to slow or stop the disease is showing great potential and everyone should examine our peer-reviewed research just published," Nymox president Paul Averback said. "Spherons are quite novel and some skepticism is to be expected." Averback, medical director Michael Munzarand other Nymox officers were in New York for the conference, the company's headquarters in Montreal said. Dr. Jude Poirier, director of McGill University's Centre for the Aging, and an adviser to many large companies researching Alzheimer's, was somewhat skeptical about yesterday's announcent. "They have persistently refused to show all the relevent scirentific information for their claims and their Alzheimer's diagnostic test has not been proven yet," he said. Poirier said it's essential that everyone working in the field is ready to share data with their peers. "NYmox leaves out vital pieces of the puzzle. We must wait for real confirmation and that can take time." Pierre Sevigny, research director of Nova Molecular Inc., a Montreal research company working in the field, said "we need to know a great deal more about Nymox's claims." |
