Just returned from the Informed Investors Forum. Stefan Borg, founder and CEO of SunPharm gave and very thorough presentation of the company's pipeline and each drug's trial status. It was a very different presentation from the one Paul Herron, VP/CFO, gave on June 6th. Paul talked mostly about Dr. Bergeron and the company's structure (a virtual company with low overhead) and governance. Stefan touched briefly on those topics, but honed in on the details of the R&D efforts. He spoke most enthusiastically about the cancer program, but also gave good expositions of the metal chelator program and the AIDS-related diarrhea program.
Stefan used up almost all of his available time, so the Q&A session was limited to one question: how does DEHOP compare to Shaman's Provir as a treatment for AIDS-related diarrhea. Shaman had presented earlier in the day so we were all eager to hear a comparison of the two drugs. Stefan made the following points in response:
(1) DEHOP is both an antimotility drug and also an anti-secretory drug; Provir is just an anti-secretory drug. In mice studies DEHOP's antimotility effects have been measured as expanding by three times the duration of time it takes food to move through the GI tract. For AIDS patients, this antimotility effect should improve ingestion of the oral medications (protease inhibitors, etc.) being administered as their primary therapy.
(2) DEHOP is administered subcutaneously once every other day over a 6-day period, whereas Provir is administered orally 4 times per day. Based upon a study of AIDS patients SunPharm believes that for this population DEHOP's mechanism of delivery may be an advantage. The so-call "pill burden" is a major problem for AIDS patients. Adding to their existing pill burden an additional 4 pills per day will be perceived by them as a negative, as contrasted to one subcutaneous injection every second day. AIDS patients are very used to needle pricks and are not likely to view one additional injection every other day as much of a negative. Stefan did say, however, that SunPharm is working on an orally available formulation of DEHOP for diarrhea.
(3) DEHOP is being tested in AIDS patients for whom all other anti-diarrheal therapies have failed and is demonstrating efficacy in this recalcitrant population, whereas patients in the Provir studies have suffered from such a recalcitrant form of diarrhea.
SunPharm's protocol for its Phase 3 trial of DEHOP for AIDS-related diarrhea is currently under review. One in 4 AIDS patients suffer from this malady. The launch of the Phase 3 trial will be an important milestone. A related milestone will be the launch of a Phase 1 trial of DEHOP for chemotherapy-induced diarrhea. Other upcoming milestones mentioned by Stefan (but without giving much indication as to expected dates for reaching them) include (a) the launch of Phase 1 trials of DENSPM for psoriasis and HBED (a metal chelator drug) for sickle cell anemia and/or Cooley's anemia, (b) formation of additional corporate partnerships, (c) issuance of additional patents on SunPharm's technology, and results from Warner-Lambert's accelerated Phase 2 trial of DENSPM in six solid tumor cancers.
Overall, it was an impressive presentation. I am already long this stock and glad of it. |
