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Biotech / Medical : GUMM - Eliminate the Common Cold -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LTK007 who wrote (2571)	7/22/2000 7:57:25 PM
From: DanZ	Respond to of 5582

Max, I see that you already found out that options don't trade on GUMM. This is unfortunate, because I would have been using them to hedge my position. I asked Gum Tech's CFO a few months ago if he would look into what it takes to get options on the stock but I haven't followed up on that conversation. Do you know if a company can request that options be traded on their stock, or does the CBOE have to initiate the action? I have heard rumors about who is conducting the independent prophylactic study, but it probably wouldn't be appropriate for me to post his name. I will only say that if the rumor is true, he is well respected researcher that has conducted clinical studies on the rhinovirus before. To give you a hint, his name was in the news about nine months ago related to a study on the common cold. Your question about why companies are conducting research into blocking the rhinovirus if Zicam works is a good one. There could be any number of answers. One, there might be more than one solution and innovative companies may try to develop their own product since the market and bragging rights are so large. Pfizer/Warner Lambert/Agouron began working on their 3C protease inhibitor before Zicam was launched. They might think that there is a market for that product even if Zicam is successful. It would be sold as a prescription if it makes it through the new drug process, and there should be a market for a prescription and OTC medicine for the common cold. Viropharma's pleconaril is targeted towards more viruses than just the rhinovirus. They probably wouldn't stop their research even if they thought they couldn't sell it for the common cold. One research project, Tremacamra was halted last year even after promising initial results. Last, you can't assume that Agouron won't table their research if more convincing data is released on Zicam. I don't know of any other research into products aimed at the common cold. Have you heard of others? Pfizer has been a rumored joint venture partner for Gel Tech but obviously there's no way to verify if this is true. If it is true, I believe that the stock would fly on the news. Best regards, Dan