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Biotech / Medical : VPHM - Viropharma Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cornbread who wrote (145)	7/14/1999 9:45:00 PM
From: Impristine-2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2557

OLD NEWS... cnnfn.com ViroPharma stock falls Shares lose more than 38 percent as meningitis drug has mixed results November 5, 1998: 5:29 p.m. ET Should you buy drugs? - April 28, 1998 ViroPharma NEW YORK (CNNfn) - ViroPharma Inc.'s stock tumbled more than 38 percent Thursday after the pharmaceutical company disclosed mixed results from a study of its viral-meningitis drug pleconaril. ViroPharma (VPHM) stock tumbled as much as 55 percent earlier in the day before recovering slightly to end at 11-7/8, down 7-13/16 on the Nasdaq. The slide came after the company said a double-blind trial of pleconaril found the drug did not meet one of the study's primary goals. In a double blind trial neither the participants nor the person administering treatment know which treatment any particular subject is receiving. In the case of pleconaril, the young patients who took the drug did not notice any significant reduction in the time it took headaches to go away versus the group that took the placebo. However, the company said the drug did have so-called "total morbidity scores" statistically better than those given a placebo. "This is very disappointing," said Franklin Berger, an analyst with J.P. Morgan Securities. "This is the last stage of development of the drug. We're really playing for keeps at this level." Berger said pleconaril is in the last phase before the drug is submitted to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for approval. He said there are three other tests being conducted: one with children and two more with adults. "If all the other trials work," he said, "than this is sort of a speed bump in the development of the company and the drug." There is currently no treatment for viral meningitis, a serious nervous-system infection that usually strikes in the summer. A severe headache is one of the symptoms. ViroPharma said the study suggested that the presence or absence of headaches in children with meningitis might not be as important as it is with adults. Mark Augustine, an analyst with S. G. Cowen Securities, stressed that the disease varies significantly with the age of the patient. "We remain positive," he said. "This is one of four studies. We continue to believe we will see more positive results in adults." Despite the stock market's negative reaction to the news, Dr. Mark Sawyer, a primary investigator in the pleconaril study, called the trial's results "encouraging." "I am excited about the prospects of pleconaril for treating children and adults who suffer from viral meningitis," Sawyer said in a statement released by ViroPharma.