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Biotech / Medical : Kosan BioSciences -- KOSN -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (21)	7/19/2001 9:36:52 PM
From: JMarcus	Respond to of 933

Daniel Santi’s presentation at the Northern Calif. Pharmaceutical Discussion Group was very well received last night. He impressed me as being very much on top of his game (but much of the chemistry he covered was way over my layman’s head). Set forth below are some of my notes from his talk. 45 approved drugs are polyketides. This list includes a good number of block buster drugs. There are 10,000 known polyketides. These compounds are very complex and span many different structures, but all are made by the same process. They are amazingly pliable. Kosan is now producing recombinants of polyketides using E Coli bacteria, which are very very fast at producing the chemicals. As you learned today, Kosan has also begun producing polyketides in plants. The Phase I trial of Epothilone D (it works like Taxol, but is much less toxic) will start in a couple months. Epothilone requires a 30-step synthesis. Although polyketides are mostly found in soil organisms, there are homologous structures in marine organisms, and Kosan is going after them too. This may be Kosan’s next big frontier.

To: keokalani'nui who wrote (21)	8/10/2001 3:27:37 PM
From: JOEBT1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 933

Wilder--Talked to KOSN management recently. Apparently the first PR on the Epothilone D trial will be released after the first patient is dosed with the drug. There wouldn't be any preliminary PR's on IND filing. They have produced all the epo-d needed for Phase I and are working on Phase II.The J&J antibiotics are in pre-clinicals and going well. The royalties on the J&J drugs will range from the high single digits to low double digits. Not bad for a deal done in 1998. The work on Motilide (gastric reflux) and nerve regeneration is also underway. They feel that their intellectual property in polyketides is very strong and well protected. Joe