Cancer Conference Could Give Boost to Biotechnology
Companies
By Kristin Reed
quote.bloomberg.com
New Orleans, May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Sagging biotechnology
stocks could get a boost when researchers discuss experimental
cancer drugs from ImClone Systems Inc., Amgen Inc., and Allos
Therapeutics Inc. at a medical meeting opening on Saturday.
Cancer research, long the realm of big pharmaceutical
companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., is becoming dominated by
smaller biotechnology firms testing drugs that doctors hope will
be more effective with fewer side effects.
Biotechnology stocks have slumped in recent weeks after
rocketing earlier this year, in part on the success of cancer
drugs like Herceptin from Genentech Inc., and Rituxan from
Genentech and Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp. Encouraging news at the
meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology could help
restore enthusiasm for biotechnology, investors said.
``It's going to take real information to get things going,''
said Stephen Flaks, manager of Flaks Partners LP hedge fund.
``ASCO could be the springboard that takes the group higher.''
The ASCO meeting begins on Saturday, May 20 and will run
through Tuesday, May 23.
The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index gained more than 80 percent in
the first nine weeks of 2000, amid enthusiasm for biotech and
genetic research technology. Since March 6, the index has fallen
37 percent as investors fled technology stocks.
Of the 369 drugs in development that use biotechnology, 175
are designed to treat cancer and with the ASCO meeting, investors
will have a chance to look at data from human studies of some of
the most promising biotech compounds.
New York-based ImClone will offer some of the most eagerly
anticipated data at the conference, presenting research on its
most advanced drug, known as IMC225. The drug works by disabling
one of the defense mechanisms that enables tumors to withstand
chemotherapy or radiation.
Cancer at Molecular Level
IMC225 could be win U.S. Food and Drug Administration
approval as early as next year, according to company officials.
ImClone shares more than quadrupled in the first nine weeks of the
year and are still trading at more than double their January
level.
``The ImClone (data) is a big deal,'' said Jim McCamant, an
analyst with the Medical Technology Stock Letter. ``If they do the
job that they are going to try and do, people will see that it is
some of the most important work in cancer, treating cancer at the
molecular level of the disease.''
Researchers will present data from studies testing the drug
in patients with head and neck cancer and colorectal cancer.
Vical Inc., a San Diego biotechnology company working on gene-
based cancer treatments, will show data on its gene therapy,
Allovectin-7, designed to help the immune system recognize and
attack cancer cells. The drug has been tested against metastatic
melanoma, and in patients with head and neck cancer.
More Effective Radiation
Denver, Colorado based Allos will offer research on its drug,
RSR13, designed to make radiation therapy more effective. The
company is testing the drug for a number of uses, and will present
data on whether it may help patients with various types of brain
cancer, including cancer that has metastasized, or spread, to the
brain from other places in the body.
``We are really excited about it,'' said Stephen Hoffman,
president and chief executive officer at Allos. ``The preliminary
data looks very promising and it's a very significant medical
problem.''
Matrix Pharmaceutical Inc. is expected to release the key
data from a study of its IntraDose drug in head and neck cancer
patients. Shares in the Fremont, California based biotech firm
have gained 41 percent over the past two weeks, buoyed by
investors' hopes that the drug will show strong results.
Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, could
benefit from data on sustained-release versions of its Epogen and
Neupogen drugs. Epogen is the biggest product for Amgen, the
world's biggest biotechnology company, and brought in slightly
more than half of the company's $3.3 billion in revenue last year.
Neupogen had 1999 sales of $1.26 billion.
Researchers will show data aimed at supporting long-acting
versions of both Epogen and Neupogen.
And Genentech, the oldest biotechnology company, will present
data on an array of experimental cancer drugs, as well as on new
uses for approved drugs such as Herceptin, which with sales of
$188.4 million in 1999, recorded the highest first year sales of
any cancer product in the U.S.
Safety of Genentech Drug
Investors will also be looking closely at the safety of one
of Genentech's experimental drugs, a so-called anti-VEGF drug
designed to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply.
Concerns over the drug's safety were sparked last month after six
of 67 lung-cancer patients taking the drug in a study coughed up
blood in incidents that were described as sudden or severe. Four
patients died from complications stemming from those episodes.
Data from that study, released in summary form last month,
will be presented in greater detail at the ASCO conference.
The anti-VEGF drug is one of the most advanced in a class of
experimental cancer therapies known as angiogenesis inhibitors
which work by strangling blood flow to a tumor. If doctors become
worried about safety of anti-VEGF after seeing the more complete
data, that could trigger closer scrutiny of similar drugs in
development at companies such as EntreMed Inc. and Pharmacia Corp. |
