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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Biomaven who wrote (3134)	3/19/2001 10:00:12 AM
From: Biomaven	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

Here's an article on new cardio drugs. To my mind, CVTX, SCIO and KOSP are the biotech plays here. All are now top-10 holdings for me. (Partly I've added some; partly some of my other high-fliers have pulled back). I also hold a little CORR, which had a nice release today. Drugs herald start of new era in heart treatment By Victoria Griffith Published: March 18 2001 17:09GMT \| Last Updated: March 18 2001 18:25GMT New cardiovascular drugs worth at least $7bn in annual sales are expected to be approved over the next 18 months, and late-stage trial results for some of the most important will be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando. On Tuesday, the world will get a peek at the way the cholesterol wars are shaping up when AstraZeneca releases comparative results for Crestor, its challenger to Pfizer's cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor. If Crestor, as expected, shows significantly greater effectiveness than Lipitor, analysts predict peak sales of $2bn. Schering-Plough will reveal data on Ezetimibe - its drug to limit cholesterol absorption in the body - with peak sales forecast at $750m a year. Late-stage clinical trial data for Tezosentan, a treatment for acute heart failure developed as a joint venture between Genentech and the Swiss company Actelion will also be unveiled this week. Acute heart failure happens when weak hearts fail to pump blood fast enough, causing a build-up of fluids in the rest of the body. No new drugs have been approved for the condition in over a decade. "Tezosentan represents a really interesting new class of drugs," says biotechnology analyst Elise Wang, of Salomon Smith Barney. "One concern, though, is the side-effect profile." Analysts forecast the medication's peak sales of $500m annually. The market is also excited about the potential for another treatment for acute heart failure - Scios's Natrecor (peak sales predicted at an annual $500m) - and two treatments for chronic heart failure - Immunex's drug Enbrel (peak sales $2bn), now approved for rheumatoid arthritis, and Bosentan from Genentech and Actelion (peak sales $1bn). Chronic heart failure is a milder form of the disease. Why such a flood of products now? "When treatments like ACE inhibitors and statins came on to the market in the 60s, 70s and 80s, scientists thought heart disease was basically under control," says Louis Lange, chief executive of CV Therapeutics, which is in late-stage trials for a drug to treat angina. Only in recent years did drugs companies refocus on heart disease. Science is now bearing the fruit of its most recent inquiry. Researchers have identified a number of fresh culprits in the progression of the condition, providing new pathways to pursue. Only recently, for instance, have scientists named substances like endothelin (targeted by Genentech's and Actelion's drugs) and TNF (inhibited by Enbrel) as playing any significant role in heart failure. Scios's Natrecor has also established a new class of treatments - synthetic versions of a naturally-occurring hormone that improves heart function. One good thing about the current pipeline, from an investor's point of view, is that most of the new drugs can be taken together - meaning that they shouldn't cannibalise existing treatments. An exception is Crestor, which is expected to cut into Lipitor's current $6bn annual global market. Pipeline compounds are aimed at different phases of heart disease. Crestor and Ezetimibe target the cholesterol build-up that usually precedes heart failure. Enbrel and Bosentan will be used to treat chronic heart failure. Tezosentan and Natrecor will be indicated for acute heart failure, which is usually treated intravenously in the hospital. Heart disease is a key market for drug companies. Some 5m people in the US alone suffer from heart failure, 7m from angina. These numbers are growing as the population ages and diagnosis methods improve. "Heart failure patients are under-served by the current drug therapies," says Rachel Leheney, analyst at Lehman brothers. "And the disease is poorly controlled."