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Technology Stocks : Lance B's : Its A Beautiful Thing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Madeleine Harrison who wrote (2701)	1/12/2000 10:00:00 AM
From: johnsto1	Respond to of 4792

AIRA the genomics QCOM money rotation to bio-pharmas ARIA...read closely Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s shares rose 53 percent in heavy trading, after the company said it had won patent protection for gene- based methods it is developing to fight disease. Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology and genomics company, which had 22 million shares outstanding as of November, rose 2 3/8 to close at 6 13/16 in trading of 27 million. Yesterday, the company's stock rose 1 9/32, or 40 percent, to close at 4 7/16. The patents cover technology Ariad is using to develop oral versions of treatments such as insulin for diabetics, interferon for infections such as hepatitis, and erythropoietin, sold by Amgen in an intravenous form called Epogen. The patents also cover separate technology for developing a treatment for an immune system disorder called graft-versus-host disease. Analysts said the patents are an important step in the development of the company. Now that the company's strategy for designing gene-based treatments has been patented, potential partners and larger drugmakers will be forced to strike agreements with Ariad before using its approach. It will be some time before investors or the company will see whether the approach will translate into effective drugs, though. The heavy trading volume in Ariad's shares today may also be due to general enthusiasm for the genomics field. Genomics companies make money in part by generating and selling genetic information that may serve as a blueprint for developing molecules that precisely target the causes of disease. ''Everybody is looking for the next big genomics hit,'' said Eric Ende, an analyst with Lehman Brothers who doesn't officially cover Ariad. ''It's easy for your typical investor to look for the next one -- and I'm not saying this isn't the next one.'' Shares of PE Corp.'s Celera Genomics Group rose 29 percent yesterday after the company said it had mapped more than 90 percent of the material in the human genome, the genetic blueprint for the human body. Researchers expect the sequence to be a starting point in efforts to develop new drugs. Celera shares have more than quintupled since late October, when the company said it had mapped 1.2 billion human DNA base pairs, the alphabet of the genetic code, or about a third of the human genome. Other stocks on the move recently include Maxygen Inc., Affymetrix Inc., Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., Nanogen Inc. and Human Genome Sciences Inc. While Celera shares fell 18 1/2 today, the stock closed at 223 1/2, while Ariad's shares have traded at less than 3 for most of the past year. ''Unfortunately for Ariad, they have had to endure a couple years of very lackluster stock performance'' even though they have been pursuing sound scientific research, said Jeffrey Kraws, a biotechnology analyst with Gruntal & Co., who doesn't formally cover the stock. ''I think the stock is reacting to years and years of technological advances the company has made that now are coming forth.''