First it was the Internet week, Now the Bio-tech?
DD
Biotech Meets Star Trek: Cancer Forum Caps Exciting Week
Business Wire - December 10, 1998 20:57
SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 10, 1998--As the new Star Trek movie opens in theaters tomorrow to transport viewers with its tri-corders and laser tools, biotech investors will beam up Saturday to the 13th floor of the Seattle Hilton for the Cancer Forum, concluding a space-age week in the biotech industry.
The Cancer Forum is Informed Investors' annual northwest biotechnology stocks conference. This year the focus is cancer research. Cost for the Forum, which includes a full lineup of public biotech companies and experts, is $40 including breakfast and lunch. For details, call Informed Investors at 800/992-4683 or view details at
informedinvestors.com.
The stock of tiny Cell Robotics (Nasdaq:CRII) rocketed into orbit Tuesday on word of approval from the FDA for home-use of the company's Lasette(TM)a laser finger-perforator for diabetics that allows the drawing of blood in a nearly painless manner for glucose testing purposes. Marketing partner Chronimed (Nasdaq:CHMD) was a beneficiary
too.
"The real significance of an advance like this has to be seen in the context of inhaled insulin, under development by Inhale Therapeutics," (Nasdaq:INHL) said Tim Quast, chief operating officer of Cancer Forum host Informed Investors.Inhale Therapeutics, a presenter at the Seattle event, has an inhaled insulin product in late-stage clinical trials. "We're approaching the day when diabetic patients will be
able to treat themselves with no pain and no needles."
The annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference last weekend in Miami contributed heavily to a string of other worldly announcements from biotech firms. Local Seattle company Cell Therapeutics (Nasdaq:CTIC) reported Tuesday a study indicating success in reducing the adverse reaction of bone marrow recipients to marrow from the donor.
Immunex (Nasdaq:IMNX), the Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Seattle biotech companies,aimed its collective phaser at stem-cell research with preclinical studies showing two of the company's products used in combination may generate and activate killer stem cells to battle cancer.
And Denver-based NeXstar Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:NXTR) might have a Death Star of a product for treating lymphoma and leukemia. Although the product is early-stage yet, 87 percent of tested patients responded in varying degrees to treatment, according to results reported Monday at ASH.
In late-breaking cancer news, Cancer Forum presenter AVI BioPharma
(Nasdaq:AVII) of Portland, Ore., said today that its vaccine for treating colorectal cancer, the third most common form of cancer, successfully activated the body's Klingon-warrior-like antibodies to increase the survival time for patients. This "immunotherapy" offers a treatment without the toxicity of current therapies.
And finally out of Seattle to cap a dramatic week, stock of Seattle high-flyer PathoGenesis (Nasdaq:PGNS) continued to climb higher. Patients in Sick Bay have been rejoicing over the company's in-licensed aerosol product for treating cystic fibrosis (CF) and the company reported strong sales last quarter. Seattle neighbor and Cancer Forum presenter Targeted Genetics (Nasdaq:TGEN) also launched
studies this week with Medeva (NYSE:MDV) on an aerosolized gene-therapy treatment for CF. Now if that's not tricorder-level technology, what is?
Call Informed Investors Forum at 800/992-4683 for details on the Seattle Cancer Forum. Informed Investors hosts a dozen biotechnology conferences each year including the Beltway Biotech Forum in Bethesda Jan. 26, 1999, and the Surgical Advances Forum in Los Angeles Feb. 13, 1999.
CONTACT: Informed Investors
Tim Quast/Steve Chanecka, 916/448-8222 or 800/992-4683
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