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Biotech / Medical : Sepracor-Looks very promising -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: j_fir2 who wrote (3536)	8/4/1999 7:10:00 PM
From: BMcV	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10280

>>I asked Jonae if there were any other ICEs being marketed by other companies. She said that levofloxicin is a single isomer (antibiotic) of offloxicin (sp?) that J&J is marketing. She estimated the market for levofloxicin is $700 million. What they gained with the ICE was more flexibility of usage, better side effect profile, etc. I couldn't find anything resembling offloxicin in the top 200 list at RxList.com--perhaps it is no longer on the market.<< The parent of Levofloxacin is Levaquin, produced by Ortho-McNeil. Curiously, Levofloxacin is "more active against gram-positive organisms such as S. pneumoniae, including pneumococcal strains highly resistant to penicillin" (quoting from The in-this-instance-deeply-respected Medical Letter). This is evidence that optically-pure versions of existing drugs can have different pharmacological effects than the racemic version. >>The ICE of thamilomide is used to treat leprosy. Don't know the pharmaceutical company there.<< Celgene. >>At home, sick, going through trading files, I see SEPR, 7/27/97, $25.00. Made me feel pretty good to be at $70.<< Really puts this correction and the initial downsweep in perspective, doesn't it? Today was eerie. Traded all day in a very narrow range, 69 5/8 to 69 15/16, before the final spike up. Is it the weekend already?

To: j_fir2 who wrote (3536)	8/4/1999 7:43:00 PM
From: AgFinder	Respond to of 10280

Jonae said "Levofloxacin" or "Lomefloxacin" ? Because we must remember that Sepracor has this patent: dips-2.dips.org ---- 15. The method of claim 7 wherein said bacterial infection is selected from the group consisting of urinary tract infections, upper respiratory tract infections, sexually-transmitted infections, ophthalmological infections, and intestinal infections. ---- If these indications test out, then we might have a promising candidate against resistant TB. Ag.

To: j_fir2 who wrote (3536)	8/4/1999 8:07:00 PM
From: Biomaven	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10280

j'fir, As Bruce pointed out, thalidomide is being marketed by Celgene. They are not actually marketing an ICE - just the original version. Although likely only one isomer of thalidomide causes birth defects, the two isomers are converted into each other in the body. This means there is not much point in developing a single isomer version - a great pity, because in many respects thalidomide turns out to be a wonder drug (as long as you are not pregnant, of course). Although it is currently approved only for a rare complication of leprosy, it likely works well in a number of conditions - multiple myeloma, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and probably many cancers. Celgene of course also has its own strong ICE play in a chiral version of Ritalin. If I was SEPR, I would gobble up CELG. Peter