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Strategies & Market Trends : Mu Gamma Lambda -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (5138)	8/31/2001 12:53:35 AM
From: John Pitera	Respond to of 10077

Visible Genetics (VGIN) 25.95 +0.75: Biotechs are among the few groups demonstrating relative strength today with the BTK higher by 0.4% on the session. VGIN is also bidding higher on improved prospects for U.S. approval of its HIV Genotyping Kit. The company makes OpenGene DNA sequencers which analyze infectious organisms and detect genetic mutations linked to diseases. This information is then used to help pharmaceutical companies tailor their candidates to fight disease targets. Its flagship product candidate, the Trugene HIV-1 Genotyping Kit, enables physicians to customize drug prescriptions to mutations in the HIV virus which can make it rapidly drug-resistant -- the kit has already been approved in Canada, Argentina and France and is waiting on approval in the U.S. The Canadian approval was received in July and substantially improves VGIN's market position. Health care administrators in Canada can only purchase licensed medical products and VGIN now has the only licensed HIV genotyping product in the country. In the U.S., VGIN has already received one favorable FDA ruling on Trugene and the company has petitioned the FDA to consider its submission under the 'de novo' approval process. A decision isn't expected until September, but FDA guidelines published yesterday for in vitro HIV resistance assays appear favorable for the company. The promising outlook for Trugene hasn't gone unnoticed by investors. As the three-month chart indicates, VGIN has climbed steadily as its Genotyping Kit becomes more widely accepted. Yet this isn't an investment for the faint of heart as the company is not projected to post a profit prior to the end of fiscal 2002. -- Michael Ashbaugh, Briefing.com