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

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (3705)	5/8/2001 8:37:18 PM
From: Mark Bong	Respond to of 52153

Serono in Europe Wilder, one thing that crossed my mind a week ago when I heard this is that Serono is looking for any edge to increase sales in Europe. The press release today did not discuss safety issues for three times a week doses which confused me since almost all press releases like this have some discussion of this very important factor. The beta interferons do cause side effects, as you know. But in context, you would have to admit that Serono pulled off a beautiful marketing ploy with this PR, and I believe that was a one of the major objectivse of today's release. They may be tying to grab any market share they can because time is running out to best Biogen before newer drugs like Antegren (with or without) Avonex jump into the marketplace. If you review Serono’s history on Refib, I believe that they first said that Refib was equal to Avonex, so the FDA should approve Refib for the US market. Many others have also said that the two drugs are equal. That did not fly with the FDA. They beat up on the FDA with some congressmen thinking that they could brow beat the FDA into approval with political muscle. That did not fly with the FDA. Now, we have this study being released today amid much hype and PR that says what has been purported by many to be an identical drug is a major improvement over another with higher doses. As you know, Biogen did a study and concluded that Avonex did not do any better at higher doses. It seems to me that the jury is still out on this one. Finally, I don't see how such a short study could provide definitive data in a disease like MS which progresses very slowly. All in all, I remain somewhat skeptical until I see more information and especially some action from the FDA. If Serono’s claims are true, then it will do very well, which would be good for those that suffer from MS. But knowing how competitive business is, I remain skeptical.