03/19/00 Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MNLM) - Biotech: Genomics
Author: Ubermensch1 Number: of 6358
Subject: LIFE: A Value Analysis Date: 3/17/00 4:11 AM Email this to a Friend
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This morning began for me as many others have. I awoke to the angry siren of the alarm clock; the volume of said clock I have intentionally set high enough that it may be mistaken for an air raid claxon by those occupying the VFW hall six blocks away - this to shock the husk of a weary soul into action. I rolled over and gave the same two pops on the same snooze button that I always do, hoping to squeeze in an extra half-hour of half-sleep and dreading as I always dread the work day that yawns before me. When it finally got down to crunch time, when I could not possibly procrastinate one minute more without making myself late, I rolled unhappily out of bed and proceeded to the shower to begin the daily routine that I have been following now for much too long.
I arrive at my job, which my boss insists is a meaningful one, but which I know deep down is nothing more than shuffling papers around for someone else's benefit until the time comes to clock out. I go through the motions of caring about what I'm doing, responding to the false panic and artificial stress that is dumped in my lap by shuffling a little more urgently, until the whistle finally sounds and then I go home and, if I'm not too tired, spend about two hours - sometimes less - doing those things I enjoy. Then I go to bed and do it all over again the next day.
Sound familiar? Statisticians say that most Americans spend fully 60% of their lives at work (that's work-for-survival, not work-for-fulfillment). 60%! Until I heard that, I always just thought of my job as a means to a bigger and better end...a necessary evil that would help me survive until I could get my desired career going and achieve my true ambitions in life. But then I began to realize that my job was the end! It would be the end result for which 60% of my life would be spent. That is a sobering thought, and it hit me like a pot of flowers from an eighth story window. I realized that I'm on a course to trade the lion's share of my adult years away in exchange for an unpleasant routine that accomplishes nothing of significance (for me) and makes me feel miserable. I could get other jobs, sure, but until I managed to get one hand wrapped around the brass ring they would all be much the same. It's no wonder we live in an overly material, commercialized, consumer-driven society. Most people need to treat themselves frequently with expensive items to make up for the lack of lasting fulfillment in their lives. It took me a while (but not too long, thankfully) to identify the source of unhappiness in my life and to prepare myself to do something about it.
There have been other revelatory markers along the way. A while back I spotted a cartoon that struck a chord. The picture was broken into two frames: On the left was a monkey swinging freely through a wild and beautiful forest, engaging life; and on the right was a man sitting in a gray windowless office, boxed in one of a hundred tiny honeycombed cubicles. The caption below read: "Which one is smarter?"
The simple truth is that nothing meaningful will ever come from working-to-survive. A necessary step in understanding this is to realize that corporations are not distinct entities in and of themselves, though the law may treat them as such. The great lie is that the drones of the corporation toil away in the bowels of the machine so that the COMPANY can ultimately do good things...produce needed food items, inform the world, make people's lives easier or better somehow. But these things are mere by-products. The real purpose is simply to make those who pull the strings richer. The assumption that one should gallantly shrug off the frustration and unhappiness they feel and the embarrassing pittance they are being paid because their efforts contribute to a better world where the favorite potato chips of three out of four people surveyed are now available with ridges, is a bunch of hooey.
Despite all the verbal massaging that managers do, the truth is that nothing meaningful will ever come from working to survive. And without meaning, there is no value.
But there is hope.
The trick I believe is to apply some investment analysis to our lives. The analogy is an appropriate one, I think...after all, isn't that what we do every day - invest in ourselves one way or another? Actually, most people seem to apply the wrong kind of analysis...they apply a kind of technical analysis, whereby they add up all the assets they own, expenses, cash flow, balance sheet, etc. to figure out where they are in their lives. I suggest value analysis instead. Look at things like how much time is spent enriching your life. What are your goals and how does your current routine help to accomplish them? How much freedom do you have? Are you happy? How much of your life is really your own, and how much of it is owned by someone else? What is your real worth (not measured in dollars but in self-esteem, freedom and passion)?
When you perform the value analysis on your life you will see clearly and accurately where you stand. You will know precisely where you are in relation to where you want to be. And you will know what you have to do to get there. Armed with this knowledge, the decision about what to do next is a relatively easy one.
This is the stage that I am currently at. Having realized the truth about my life at a young age I stand now at the threshold of an exciting, somewhat frightening yet exhilarating grand adventure. I am very close to the moment when I will leave the zombie machine behind for good and strike out on my own. It is a heady time. The air already smells cleaner to me now. Food tastes better.
Retirement does not mean the cessation of all work. It is not synonymous with the gluing of oneself to the couch for daytime TV. It means retiring the need to work for someone else to survive...making a choice to live a fuller, more productive and satisfying life. There is no other action or undertaking that will infuse more value into a life where value is lacking than this one. I know, because I have seen the transformation in others with my own eyes. Just as in the movie The Matrix, the choice is ours to either continue in a state of perpetual sleep or to voluntarily wake from it. I've made my choice.
boards.fool.com
Biotechnology is back, and genomics is leading the way
boston.com.
Investors in love with firms that decipher genes, create
drugs
By Ronald Rosenberg, Globe Staff, 1/30/2000
While dot-com stocks have hogged the limelight recently,
biotechnology has been a backwater for investors. But now,
thanks to fresh investor interest in the emerging field of
genomics, biotech is regaining some of its luster.
Investors have started a love affair with biotechnology companies
that decipher human genes and turn the information into technology
for creating the next generation of drugs and diagnostic tests.
In the past 60 days, stock prices of more than a dozen genomics
companies have experienced runups akin to those of Internet stars
like Amazon.com Inc. and Akamai Technologies Inc.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, a pioneer in the emerging field, surged to 200 a
share earlier this month before falling and closing Friday at 1851/2, giving it a market
capitalization of $8.24 billion. CuraGen Corp. of New Haven, a relative newcomer, has seen its
stock price more than triple since Dec. 1, to 933/8, and Caliper Technologies Inc. of Mountain
View, Calif., has soared from its $16 a share initial public offering Dec. 14 to 1247/8 Friday.
Not since 1991, when the first biotechnology frenzy led to scores of new companies and soaring
stock prices, has there been such ardent investor interest in biotech.
It's sweet revenge. For much of the last five years, biotech had been a stepchild on Wall Street as
investors focused on the glamorous dot-com stocks. As a result, initial public offerings of biotech
companies dried up and venture capital went elsewhere. Biotech began to shake off its doldrums
last year, when stock prices of major companies such as Biogen Inc. and Amgen Corp. began to
recover.
Now, investors are making big bets on the budding field of genomics. By identifying genes in the
human body and their links to diseases, genomics companies can provide researchers with
information and tools for developing a new generation of drugs to treat and prevent illnesses.
Since genomics promises to do a better job than traditional biology and chemistry in identifying
the fundamental causes and pathways of disease, there's a potential to dramatically shorten the
time to find new drugs and
to boost their chances of success.
'We can expect that genomics over the next five to 10 years will lead to a higher efficiency rate in
the success of new drugs, so instead of one out of 10 drugs making it, we might start to see two
out of five,' said Richard A. van den Broek, biotechnology analyst at Hambrecht & Quist.
However, he warned not to expect any change in the time required to test drugs, which will
remain the same under US Food and Drug Administration regulations.
Fueling the genomics boom is the expected announcement this spring of the 'first draft' of the
human genome, the spelling out of the precise sequence of the 3 billion letters in the 100,000
genes of the human body. This identification and mapping of the genome, part of which was
done at the Whitehead Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Genomic
Research, is being performed under the aegis of the government-sponsored Human Genome
Project. The decadelong endeavor, expected to be completed in 2003, is an early step toward
understanding the basic mechanics of the human body and the fundamental causes of diseases.
Some analysts maintain the price boom among biotech stocks began last November when the
National Institutes of Health said it had mapped all the gene sequences in a single chromosome.
Some parts of the human genetic code have been known for several years, prompting researchers
at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to use this new knowledge to begin developing
drugs to treat certain diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and breast cancer.
Later this year, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. is expected to launch human testing of a proposed
antiobesity drug, based on five years of research by Millennium. The Cambridge firm helped
identify the genes that cause obesity and developed a proposed drug compound Hoffmann-La
Roche plans to test.
And in the coming months, Becton Dickinson & Co. will unveil a melanoma test, developed with
Millennium genomics technology, that will predict how serious a cancerous mole is and the
likelihood it will spread.
The great promise of genomics is its ability to help scientists identify an individual's genetic
makeup. This would enable researchers to both tailor or fine-tune drugs for specific people and
develop preventive medicines. Ultimately, the DNA testing done by the genomics industry will
make possible a day when an individual could carry his or her genetic identity around on a
computer chip or a card. That would greatly enhance doctors' ability to prescribe medicines
tailored to the individual.
'We are starting to see the early signs of personalized medicine, where in the next five to 10 years
you will have your genome on a chip that will follow you around and make it possible for early
prediction or detection of disease plus more accurate diagnosis with personalized medications,'
said Mark Levin, Millennium chief executive.
Not only will scientists learn to diagnose diseases by analyzing an individual's genes, they will
also go beyond detecting and treating illnesses to predicting and preventing them - with the
ultimate promise of longer lives.
'With genomics we are now in the third wave of medicine,' said Jonathan Rothenberg, founder
and president of CuraGen, which is developing genomics and information technology to speed up
the development of new drugs.
'The first was when the pharmaceutical industry got started to stamp out germs that were
considered the causes of diseases, followed more recently by biotechnology where you replace in
the body something that is missing or deficient such as human growth hormone.'
Genomics, he noted, is based on addressing the root cause of diseases - 'what you are born with -
variations in your genes - and the environment you live in.'
There are nearly two-dozen publicly traded companies in the genomics field. Several of them,
such as Millennium and Human Genome Sciences of Rockville, Md., use genomics to develop
drugs for their pharmaceutical partners and on their own. Others such as Genome Therapeutics
of Waltham, Celera Genomics Group of Rockville, Md., and Incyte Pharmaceuticals of Palo
Alto, Calif., specialize in selling genetic information to help others develop new drugs.
Companies like Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., and Caliper sell products and services that
let researchers quickly test thousands of genes using a 'biochip' that contains DNA fragments for
testing drugs. Scientists insert biochips into laboratory analysis equipment to perform thousands
of biochemical experiments simultaneously at a fraction of the cost and time required for
traditional tests.
Perhaps the most volatile and closely followed in the group is Celera Genomics, a subsidiary of
PE Corp. of Norwalk, Conn., which has its own stock that hit a recent high of 2675/8 before
dropping. Formed less than three years ago by Dr. J. Craig Venter, a former National Institutes
of Health researcher, Celera has an ambitious plan to map the entire 3 billion letters of human
DNA that comprise the human genome by 2001 - two years ahead of the publicly funded
National Genome Project.
Less ambitious are a cluster of recently formed private companies backed by venture capitalists
that are focused on interpreting how genetic diversity affects the usefulness and side effects of
drugs. Often, using biochips, the goal is to detect genetic differences, such as the misspelling of a
single letter of the genetic code. These distinctions are known as single nucleotide
polymorphisms, or SNPs (pronounced 'snips').
Some broad-based cancer drugs, for example, only work in 30 percent of the population. By
knowing which group of people are best suited for a drug, based on the patients' genetic traits,
drug companies can better tailor medications to an individual's needs. This has led to the creation
of new genomics companies such as Variagenics Inc. of Cambridge.
'Developing drugs to treat certain diseases that work best for certain groups of people based on
their genetic makeup is starting to take off,' said Peter Feinstein, general partner of Bioventure
Investors, a new biotech venture fund based in Worcester. 'Genomics is akin to Internet
investing. Just as e-commerce has changed retailing so will genomics impact medical practices,
except it will take a lot longer. This is just the beginning,' he said.
Message 12725676
To: len grasso who wrote (496)
From: len grasso Sunday, Jan 30, 2000 4:11 PM ET
Reply # of 515
The Human Genome Project Bears Commercial Fruit
redherring.com.
Although it remains to be seen which organization will
be the first to map the human genome, it's already clear
who will first put the findings to practical use: the
commercial interests have won the race. Next year,
when the first phase of mapping the genome is
complete, human genetic information will be offered to
the highest bidder, spawning an entirely new industry in
biopharmaceuticals based on diagnostics, the
development of drugs, and disease treatment and
prevention at the body's genetic, rather than cellular,
level.
While the U.S. government, through its publicly
financed Human Genome Project (HGP) -- sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of
Energy, and the Wellcome Trust of London --
continues to churn through the approximately 4 billion
units of DNA at the heart of every human cell,
companies like Incyte Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:
INCY) and Hyseq (Nasdaq: HYSQ) are on a faster
track: they're mapping only those areas of the genome
that promise to be profitable. And with corporations
moving so aggressively into this area of research, the
project of mapping the human genome is now as much
about generating returns on multimillion-dollar
investments as it is about pushing the envelope of
scientific discovery.
The rewards will be great. There is extraordinary
commercial value in the sequencing of the human
genome -- that is, in determining the precise
arrangement of the units of DNA in all human genes --
because it opens up the possibility that scientists and
researchers will be able to develop treatments for any
genetic disease or condition ever to insinuate itself into
the human body.
COMMERCIAL BIG BREAKS
It's a windfall opportunity for the pharmaceutical
companies, which have only scratched the surface of
the potential applications of genetic data in helping
create the blockbuster drugs of tomorrow. For
example, when Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) developed
Epogen, generically known as erythropoietin, in 1989,
the company had no idea that the genetically
engineered protein, which helps increase the level of
oxygen in the body by stimulating red blood cell
production, would eventually generate $2 billion in
annual sales. And Epogen is just the beginning; related
genetically engineered anti-inflammatory and
anticlotting drugs are already in the pipeline.
Of course, a good deal of controversy surrounds the
commercialization of human genetic data. (See our
interview with the activist Jeremy Rifkin: "Keep Your
Genes On," April 1999.) Celera Genomics, for
example, has drawn the most fire from the scientific
and academic communities -- as much for challenging
the HGP in the race to map the entire human genome
(both organizations are scheduled to finish next year)
as for reducing the endeavor to its basest commercial
interests. The company, headed by J. Craig Venter,
who formerly worked in the public-sector Institute for
Genomic Research, has invested $300 million so far.
Although Celera has vowed to offer all its genetic
information to "public domain," Dr. Venter's critics
note that the company will retain a monopoly on that
data: technically, the information will be available to the
public, but only those corporations that can afford
multimillion-dollar subscription fees will have any
practical access to the Celera genetic library.
SNPs OF DATA
The same is true for Incyte Pharmaceuticals, which
also operates on a multimillion-dollar subscription
basis. Incyte is even more overt in its pursuits: it is
mapping only the 10 percent of the human genome that
will garner the company the most lucrative commercial
applications. This 10 percent, which contains
single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs or "snips" for
short) is thought to contain the human body's most
active "software" codes; by mapping just this subset,
companies like Incyte can get a leg up by reducing the
time required to obtain human genetic data, as well as
put it to use and help its customers do the same. Like
Celera, Incyte will charge for access to its database.
Hyseq, a biopharmaceutical company that has already
mapped 12 million human DNA units through a
subsidiary called GeneSolutions.com (see
"Rent-a-Gene.com"), plans to do the same.
Although critics of the commercialism of human genetic
mapping contend that all such data should remain free
and open, biopharmaceutical scientists and company
leaders don't necessarily agree. Comparing the final
map of the human genome to the periodic table of
elements, biotech executives argue that it's not merely
the data that's important; it's also what we can do with
it and how it can be manipulated that is of value to the
world -- and, they contend, such information can truly
be mined only under a for-profit business model. Says
Hyseq CEO Lewis Gruber, "If you want something to
happen when it comes to mapping the human genome
and developing the next generation of drugs, you
should make sure that people can find a way to make
money at it." Next year will probably prove him right.
Message 12726056
To: blackmerlin who wrote (498)
From: Richard Harmon Tuesday, Feb 1, 2000 9:12 AM ET
Respond to Post # 499 of 515
Tuesday February 1, 8:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Millennium Identifies Role of Madh6 Gene and Smad6
Protein In Cardiovascular Defects
Tissue-Specific Role of Protein in Mice Could Serve as Model For Development of New Therapies
for Humans
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM - news) today
announced the publication of data from its ongoing collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company in the area of cardiovascular
disease. The study, which appears in the February 1, 2000 issue of Nature Genetics, demonstrates the tissue-specific role of
the Smad6 protein in the cardiovascular system. Mice, in which the gene encoding the Smad6 protein is disrupted, have
multiple cardiovascular abnormalities. These findings have significant potential for accelerating the development of therapies to
treat a wide range of defects affecting the heart and blood vessels. Millennium and Brigham and Women's Hospital co-own
U.S. Patent No. 5,834,248 which relates to the gene encoding the Smad6 protein.
The paper, titled 'A Role for Smad6 in Development and Homeostasis of the Cardiovascular System,' by Katherine Galvin,
Ph.D. and colleagues at Millennium, the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University, describes how mutations in the Madh6
gene, which encodes the Smad6 protein, result in a variety of cardiovascular abnormalities in mice. Most significantly, the data
shows that alterations in Madh6 gene expression and Smad6 protein function affect only the cardiovascular system. This
suggests that the Madh6 gene and the Smad6 protein may have significant utility in developing novel therapies for
cardiovascular disease.
Smad6 is a member of a family of proteins that help convert signals from outside the cell into changes in gene expression. The
observed cardiovascular defects in mice with a disrupted Smad6 gene include abnormalities of the heart valves and blood
vessels, hardening of the arteries and increased blood pressure. Similar hardening of the arteries occurs in humans as a clinically
significant feature of atherosclerotic lesions.
'The determination that Madh6 gene expression is restricted to the cardiovascular system provides us with a key
cardiovascular-specific target,' said Dennis Huszar, Ph.D., director of target validation at Millennium. 'This discovery gives us
the potential to correct the underlying molecular abnormalities that lead to cardiovascular disease, rather than merely creating
drugs to treat the symptoms.'
'The discovery of Madh6 and the elucidation of its role in the cardiovascular system is indicative of our ability to identify
disease-related genes and rapidly determine how they impact the initiation and progression of that disease,' said Robert
Tepper, M.D., chief scientific officer of Millennium. 'Our integrated science and technology platform, which spans from
gene-to- patient, combines the best technology with biological expertise. This enables Millennium to play a leading role in the
discovery of novel disease targets for the development of potential therapeutics, especially in areas of unmet medical need.'
Background
The American Heart Association reports that approximately 60 million Americans have one or more forms of cardiovascular
disease (CVD) which includes stroke, hypertension, coronary heart disease and congestive heart failure. CVD is the single
leading cause of death in America today. More than two million people in the United States suffer from the effects of congestive
heart failure (CHF) and approximately 400,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. CHF results from altered cardiac muscle
mechanics and function in response to various conditions including: hypertension, valvular heart disease, and heart attacks due
to atherosclerosis. The response of the cardiac muscle to these conditions is felt to be largely under the genetic control of
several, complex signaling pathways. Therefore, it is thought that by modulating novel molecular targets in the cardiovascular
system, CHF and other forms of CVD may be more effectively treated.
In October 1995, Millennium and Lilly entered into a research agreement utilizing Millennium's gene discovery and target
validation technology platform to identify targets for drug candidate screening in cardiovascular disease to Lilly. In September
1997, Millennium and Lilly extended the collaboration for three additional years. Under the terms of the agreement, Millennium
shares with Lilly select proprietary genomics technologies and expertise, allowing Lilly to expand its in-house genomics
programs. In exchange, Lilly shares with Millennium proprietary high throughput screening technologies and access to select
combinatorial chemistry libraries of Sphinx Pharmaceuticals, a division of Lilly Research Laboratories. The two companies also
have an agreement in select fields of oncology.
Millennium, a leading drug discovery and development company, employs large-scale genetics, genomics, high throughput
screening and informatics in an integrated science and technology platform. The Company is applying this platform to integrate
the initial discovery of disease-related genes, the development of drugs specific for these diseases and the management of
patients affected by these diseases. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium and its affiliates currently employ
more than 1,000 people.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward looking statements include uncertainties
relating unanticipated difficulties and delays relating to gene identification, drug discovery and clinical development processes;
Millennium's ability to successfully integrate the operations of LeukoSite, Inc.; changes in relationships with strategic partners
and dependence upon strategic partners for the performance of critical activities under collaborative agreements; the impact of
competitive products and technological changes; uncertainties relating to patent protection and regulatory approval; and
uncertainties relating to the ability of Millennium and its affiliates to obtain substantial additional funds required for progress in
drug discovery and development. The factors that could affect the performance of Millennium are more fully described in filings
by Millennium with the Securities and Exchange Commission including but not limited to the factors set forth under the heading
'Risk Factors' in the registration statement on Form S-4 filed by Millennium with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
November 5, 1999.
SOURCE: Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Message 12740667 |
