Mel, here is the article. Think about getting a 2 week free trial to theIBD. Find it much better than the WSJ.
PATHOGENESIS CORP.
Seattle, Washington Cystic
Fibrosis Drug Reduces Lung
Infections
Date: 11/30/98
Author: Gloria Lau
Tracy Wright, a cheerful redhead at St. Pius X High
School in Atlanta, looks as energetic as any
sophomore. She plays softball in the spring and takes
jazz dance classes weekly. She'll probably go out for
the track team this year.
You wouldn't know it unless she told you: Wright has
cystic fibrosis.
The chronic illness makes her cough and causes her
body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that
sometimes clogs her lungs and airways. The mucus
also plugs the body's intestinal and reproductive tracts.
Patients have a lifelong form of bronchitis and can die
of lung infections.
Wright, 16, manages to stay healthier than many CF
patients. Her exercise regimen, which also includes
swimming and basketball, helps her breathe easier.
''My family has always encouraged me to participate in
sports and stuff,'' Wright said. ''That really helps my
lung capacity. It helps me . . . have more stamina and
not get as run-down.''
In January, Wright started taking PathoGenesis
Corp.'s tobramycin, or Tobi, for inhalation. The
7-year-old biotech company targets niche markets,
such as cystic fibrosis, which are often overlooked by
larger drug makers.
Tobi won regulatory approval in December '97, and
PathoGenesis began selling the drug in January. Sales,
which came to $42 million in the nine months ended
Sept. 30, are expected to rise to $88 million next year.
Tobi's effect on Wright speaks for itself: This year, she
has missed only one day of class. She doesn't feel tired
as often and suffers fewer lung infections. Before
taking Tobi, her illness forced her to miss 42 days of
school last year. Wright spent about two weeks of that
time in the hospital getting antibiotics pumped into her
blood stream.
Most of the time, the country's 30,000 cystic fibrosis
patients live in peaceful coexistence with their germs
and have modest symptoms. But as time goes on, the
germs get tougher, and lung function diminishes. The
median life span of a patient is 31 years. That's not
long, but it's up from 18 in '80.
Tobi offers patients long-awaited good news. In Phase
III clinical trials, the drug boosted lung function by an
average of 11%. That might not sound like much, but it
is. CF patients lose 2% to 3% of their lung function a
year, and it doesn't come back.
Although it has yet to be proven, Tobi's improvement
of lung function could add years to a patient's life, says
Dr. C. Michael Bowman, head of the Comprehensive
Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children's Hospital Los
Angeles.
Each dose of Tobi comes in a tiny vial with 300
milligrams of tobramycin. Every morning and evening,
Wright pulls a vial from the refrigerator, pours it into a
nebulizer, holds the device to her mouth and breathes
in the drug for 15 minutes. The nebulizer reduces the
liquid drug to a fine spray.
Wright uses it for 28 days, then takes a ''Tobi
vacation'' for 28 days. Keeping off the drug every
other 28-day cycle helps prevent the bacteria in her
lungs from becoming immune to the product.
Founder, Chairman and CEO Wilbur ''Bill'' Gantz
estimates that about 12,000 CF patients like Wright
will find the drug useful. Only 5,500 are using it
today. Tobi costs $72 a day.
Before Tobi, patients had no preventive options; they
could only dash to hospitals after each infectious
flare-up.
CF patients suffer from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an
unusually strong bacterium rarely found in healthy
people even when they get sick. Antibiotic pills can't
fight Pseudomonas. So patients stay in the hospitals
for about two weeks, getting injections of tobramycin,
which reaches the lungs via the blood stream. The
injections can harm a patient's hearing and liver.
Hospitalization costs $2,000 a day.
Tobi is more direct. It goes straight into the lungs and
stays there. Better yet, the drug can't pass from the
lungs into the blood stream. That allows 100-fold
greater concentrations of the drug to reach the lungs
and causes few side effects. In the lungs, it strikes
airway linings where the infection resides.
In the third quarter, PathoGenesis lost 18 cents a share,
compared with a loss of 53 cents a year before.
Revenue hit $15 million. The company reported no
revenue in the '97 period.
Analysts expect PathoGenesis to earn 34 cents in '98,
up from a loss of $2.10 last year. Earnings should
jump another 353% to $1.54 in '99. The company
trades as PGNS near 47.
With the launch of Tobi behind it, PathoGenesis is
now developing Tobi for tuberculosis and a severe
lung infection called bronchiectasis. It's also working
on other drugs for cystic fibrosis patients.
(C) Copyright 1998 Investors Business Daily, Inc.
Metadata: PGNS I/2830 |
