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Biotech / Medical : Stressgen (VSE: SSB) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Heat Shock who wrote (171)	6/7/2001 6:29:57 PM
From: Heat Shock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 236

To all: the Globe and Mail and National Post pick up the story. First the Globe: Stressgen stock jumps 16% on hopes for cure of common STD LEONARD ZEHR BIOTECHNOLOGY REPORTER Thursday, June 7, 2001 Investors rushed into Stressgen Biotechnologies Corp. yesterday, lifting the stock price 16 per cent after the company said its flagship drug may eradicate or shrink genital warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted virus. The stock rose 93 cents to $6.78 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as volume soared to 1.4 million shares, 15 times the daily average. Stressgen told a medical conference in San Diego that during a Phase II trial to treat patients with anal dysplasia, a pre-cancerous condition caused by HPV, 14 of 22 patients at one clinic also had genital warts. After six months of treatment with its HspE7 drug, the company said 10 of the 14 patients had warts reduced in size by up to 95 per cent and 3 patients were cured. "These are pretty good results," said Brian Bapty, an analyst with Raymond James Ltd., who has a "strong buy" recommendation on Stressgen Biotechnologies and a 12-month target price of $15.50 for the stock. During the next 12 months, he expects Stressgen to continue generating strong clinical data and conclude a marketing and distribution partnership for HspE7. Stressgen, which recently moved its headquarters to San Diego from Victoria, said it has begun a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II trial to treat genital warts with HspE7. Data from the trial is expected to be analyzed in the fourth quarter this year. Mr. Bapty likes Stressgen because it could be the first company to develop an injectable treatment for HPV-related diseases. "An injectable that trains the immune system to get rid of the disease . . . has a lot of utility." Moreover, if Stressgen's technology works, "it could be applicable to things like HIV and hepatitis B," he added. According to Gayhealth.com, between one and four million men and women in the United States have visible genital warts, and more than half of all gay men carry HPV. The virus also has been linked to cervical and anal cancer. Existing treatments for genital warts include topical creams and surgery, but warts recur within six months in up to 50 per cent of treated patients. National Post story: StressGenBiotechnologies Corp. (SSB/TSE), up 93¢ to $6.78, on volume of 1.4 million shares. Shares of the Victoria-based drug company rose 16% after news broke that a doctor conducting trials for its anal dysplasia drug discovered the drug also treats genital warts. The doctor said he noticed genital warts were disappearing in his patients during clinical trials of StressGen's drug HspE7. He presented his findings at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons annual meeting. Both diseases are caused by the human papillomavirus and 24 million Americans are afflicted with genital warts. Heat.