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Technology Stocks : John, Mike & Tom's Wild World of Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wlheatmoon who wrote (1638)	8/2/2000 8:21:06 AM
From: wlheatmoon	Respond to of 2850

Genome/Biotechs got a rise yesterday on this news. Probably a good time to sell on strength or short this rally. From a scientific perspective, it's still a relatively primitive way to treat tumors. Successes from direct injection into tumors are rather limiting. Unless this can be expanded to systemic treatment, it's a flash in the pan. Of course, just another goofball's opinion. Tuesday August 1, 1:13 pm Eastern Time Onyx shares rise after promising cancer trial results LOS ANGELES, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NasdaqNM:ONXX - news) rose more than 35 percent on Tuesday after researchers said late Monday that the company's virus-based treatment shrank tumours in patients with head and neck cancer. The Richmond, Calif.-based company's stock was up 4 at 14-7/8 early Tuesday on Nasdaq. ONYX-015, a virus the company has genetically engineered to home in on and destroy cancer cells, showed strong and lasting effects against tumours in patients when combined with standard chemotherapy during a mid-stage trial, researchers said in a report printed in this week's journal Nature Medicine. They said 25 out of 30 patients with head and neck cancer reported that their tumours decreased in size after they were treated with ONYX-015 along with chemotherapy in the Phase II clinical trial. Eight tumours disappeared, Dr. Fadlo Khuri and colleagues at M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, working with teams in Britain, wrote in the report. ``ONYX-015 may be able to sensitize infected and uninfected cells to killing by chemotherapy,'' they wrote. Anywhere between 45 and 70 percent of head and neck tumour cells have mutations in a gene known as p53, which, when normal, helps repair cancer-causing damage. ONYX-015 is an adenovirus, a relative of common cold viruses, that has been genetically engineered to attack cells that lack normal p53. The researchers said only 17 percent of tumours had progressed 6 months after treatment -- which meant the combination of gene therapy and chemotherapy worked better than any treatment alone. Side-effects included flu-like symptoms such as fever (34 percent), asthenia (weakness -- 47 percent) and/or chills (24 percent), but none of the patients stopped the treatment because of them, the researcher said. ONYX-015 has to be injected directly into the tumour to work, meaning it is of no apparent use against tumours that are not easy to reach, or against tiny tumours that are not yet visible. The researchers said most of their patients eventually died of their cancer -- because other, untreated tumours in their body spread. ``If all tumours are injected in future trials, the clinical benefit to and length of survival in patients may be improved further,'' Khuri's team wrote. They also suggested it might be possible to give ONYX-015 to patients intravenously, which would affect the whole body. Separately on Tuesday, Onyx reported that it had net income of $1.4 million, or 10 cents a diluted share, on revenue of $9 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $5.2 million, or 46 cents a share, on revenue of $1.8 million for the same quarter in 1999. Results for the latest quarter included a one-time $3.7 million research payment from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - news), without which the company would have lost around $1.37 million, or just over 9 cents a share. Wall Street analysts on average had expected Onyx to lose 14 cents a share in the second quarter. ``We expect to return to a loss position in the next quarter and increase spending from prior levels due to the recent start of clinical testing of a Ras pathway inhibitor (another cancer agent) that we're co-developing with Bayer Corp.,'' Hollings Renton, the company's chairman, said in a statement. A key function of the Ras pathway is cell proliferation, and scientists have found that it plays an integral role in the growth of some types of tumours. The company said it launched Phase III trials of ONYX-015 during the second quarter.