business week oh business week what is your deal, playing botrh sides of the fence to sell mags?????
Business Week: March 17, 1997
Inside Wall Street
PEPPED UP OVER CHRONIC FATIGUE
We aren't biotech investors, ''but we've bought into Hemispherx
BioPharma--the only biotech in our portfolio,'' says Richard Sinise of
Kennedy Capital Management in St. Louis, which manages some $1.5 billion.
Sinise isn't the only believer. Investors Larry Tisch and Gerry Tsai also are
stakeholders in the young company. What's so hot about Hemispherx (HEMX)? The
stock sure hasn't been on a roll: Now at 21/2, it has traded between 2 and 4
since July.
The company has a portfolio of 200 patents for technologies that use
ribonucleic-acid molecules in products to treat viral diseases, certain
cancers, and immune-system dysfunction. One of its major products is
Ampligen, now in its third clinical tests for treatment of chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS), hepatitis B, and HIV. The trials, approved by the Food & Drug
Administration, are under way in 30 sites.
An Ampligen diagnostic-test kit has received patent approval in 10
European countries. It checks blood cells for immune deficits believed to be
characteristic of CFS. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has
included CFS as a ''priority one disease'' on its list of ''new, reemerging,
and drug-resistant infectious diseases,'' says Dr. William Carter, chairman
and CEO of Hemispherx. There isn't any approved therapy for CFS, he says,
adding that a protocol using Ampligen for treatment of CFS patients has been
submitted to the FDA for approval. Ampligen, he claims, relieves all the
symptoms of CFS, including pain. Carter says Hemispherx has signed a
manufacturing pact with Pharmacia-Upjohn, which has taken a 2% stake in
Hemispherx.
Analyst David Watumull of First Honolulu Securities, says Hemispherx--''at
just $140 million in market cap--represents a compelling investment value.''
BY GENE G. MARCIAL
Copyright 1997 The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Any use
is subject to (1) terms and conditions of this service and (2) rules stated
under ''Read This First'' in the ''About Business Week'' area.
Transmitted: 3/6/97 6:23 PM (B3518115)
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