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Biotech / Medical : LEXG-Lexicon Genetics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (82)	8/9/2001 10:04:46 PM
From: JFitnich	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 254

LEXG Ccall Notes -  Genome facility is on schedule  LEXG was NOT affected by the flooding that decimated the University of Texas(?) science labs. LEXG has no affiliation with the research at any of the labs that were affected. (I was assuming with the Woodlands 30 miles north of the affected area, they were okay. Never underestimate the power of a YHOO message board to elicit comment from a CEO!)  Now have 371 FTE's, roughly 270 of these are scientists. Figure does not include the employees from the C'Canth (I hate spelling this out) merger.  Shares from the C'Canth merger will have a staggered release over a 12-month period.  Expect revenues to increase beyond initial guidance due to sub-licensing and other technology agreement revenue - INCY Co-Promotion rev's are not included in the new guidance. Still a new deal and any revenue from it this year is not modeled into their expectations.  R&D is expected to increase, but Cash Burn is expected to stay the same Q & A B of A - J Reddoch  LEXG is winding down the licensing of the cmpd libraries that C'Canth was selling. They intend to get more value out of them by screening their in-house targets against them rather than selling to partners.  Delivery of targets to C'Canth will start in 3-12 months. Intend to announce anything novel with this project as it occurs throughout the fall. CIBC - M Geller  Geller asked a question about the protein program with INCY, A Sands said that with the combo of INCY's database & LEXG's gene trapping tech, they are seeing "One of the best views of the human genome." F Berger - JPMorgan  ABGX collaboration is proceeding well, and the progress is being monitored closely by LEXG  Buildout of the Woodlands facility - 300,000 s.f. of state of the art space, 1/3 of that space is designated for knockout technology. In Arthur's words, "More of a machine than a building." (Hmmm…okay.) S. Seiler - Punk Zeigel  Question on the number of gene trap tags - have 550,000 currently which roughly calculates to 55,000 human gene clusters. LEXG thinks that there are between 55K - 60K genes in the genome. So they have (obviously) a higher number than the gene sequencers. T Nelson DRWessels  E-Biology Agreements with institutions - 100 signed - retain the right of 1st license to anything interesting, and if they pass still get a 30% royalty if anything comes out of it.  Question on # of genes to LexVision - 1250 genes are contractually promised to LexVision - so they will have 3750 gene targets of the 5000 goal to do with what they want - Internal, another deal, etc…. JPM again  DGEN litigation - Markham scheduled for fall (Oct. was what I heard in the DGEN call, Pos/Neg selection is in December.) Both companies say they are happy with the progress…too bad only 1 is going to be happy with the outcome.  LEXG states that they are pleased as they continue to sign sub-licenses with pharma and biotech companies for the technology, and since each company that signs up to be a licensee is doing it's own review of the patents in question, LEXG thinks it substantiates the IP portfolio. Interesting news, but nothing groundbreaking. I did hear Reddoch and Nelson from DRW on the call though. So it appears the INCY deal may have allowed LEXG to pop up on some other radar screens. And under the heading of "2 for the price of 1". I'll summarize the DGEN Call. Nothing much was said though.  Think they'll be at run rate of 1000 to 1200 genes per year @ YE 02. This compares with LEXG's expected rate. Each of these guys are aggressively developing the space to analyze all these genes.  Extending efforts around gene families - like the VRTX deal  LLY Deal - (wasn't much detail given IMO) LLY provides the targets to analyze in the mice. Both co's have potential to select from the program. It also didn't sound like there were any annual payments between LLY and DGEN.  Arctaris Deal - No chemists in the deal, may seek to get some down the road, may seek to partner down the road. Gene function technology and patent estate listed as main reasons for the buy. As always, if you heard anything additional or different from what's posted...please let me (the board know). Mandatory Disclaimer: I am long both DGEN and LEXG (more LEXG) Happy investing, Jason P.S. I'm glad Nigel is back too!! Even with the pounding in the markets, the SI biotech group remains one of the best for sharing information and opinions.