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Biotech / Medical : Biotechnology & Drugs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (95)	6/10/2002 7:16:45 PM
From: 2MAR$	Respond to of 232

Double disappointment for IDEC Pharmaceuticals($36.25) (adds byline, quotes, analyst comment, previous San Diego) By Bill Berkrot NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. <IDPH.O> on Monday said it had halted all clinical trials on one of its experimental drugs over concern that patients were at risk of developing blood clots. The drug, an antibody identified as IDEC-131, was being developed to treat Crohn's disease, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and a bleeding disorder known as idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura. "Our principal concern is the well-being of patients involved in our studies and, for that reason, we felt it prudent to put a hold on all IDEC-131 trials," said IDEC's chief medical officer, Paul Grint. "We need to further study the relationship, if any, between the drug and the safety risk." The San Diego-based biotechnology firm also said it received "pass-through" status for reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid patients for Zevalin, its treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, beginning in October. IDEC had expected to receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for the drug beginning on July 1. IDEC Pharmaceuticals shares fell to $35.25 in after-hours trade on the Instinet electronic trading system. The stock had closed up 13 cents at $38.37 on Nasdaq. ONE PATIENT CAUSES TRAILS HALT Grint said the decision to halt clinical trials for IDEC-131 was made after one patient being treated for Crohn's disease developed a blood clot in the leg. "It's too early to say what this development means to the IDEC-131 program as this development only occurred last week," Grint said in a conference call. Grint said that while many of the more than 200 patients involved in the trials were at increased risk of developing blood clots due to their diseases, "this case clearly was of concern to us and we've taken immediate action." He said the company was working with U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators on the issue and that trails will remain on hold pending evaluation of the safety concerns. While reluctant to discuss details on how the three-month Zevalin setback might affect earnings, IDEC President Bill Rohn said, "having the delay of one quarter would impact many estimates for calendar year 2002." Analysts said the delay in reimbursement for Zevalin would have a much more immediate impact on the stock price and the company's 2002 performance than the IDEC-131 trials halt. "It probably takes any upside for this stock in 2002 off the table," said Eric Schmidt, analyst for SG Cowen Securities. "It's a tough market out there for biotech stocks and people are looking for reasons not to own rather than to own, so this is a great reason not to own IDEC for the time being," added Schmidt, who nevertheless maintained his "buy" rating on the stock. He said IDEC's blockbuster cancer drug Rituxan's best days were probably behind it, so "IDEC's growth for the next three to four years is probably pretty exclusively dependent on Zevalin." ((--New York Health Desk, 646 223 6030)) REUTERS

To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (95)	7/1/2002 7:21:56 PM
From: 2MAR$	Respond to of 232

Alkermes leads drug stocks lower FTC, FDA decisions weigh on biotech and pharma By Rex Crum, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 5:52 PM ET July 1, 2002 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Most biotech and drug stocks fell Monday as negative opinions from the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration weighed on several companies. The biggest loser was Alkermes (ALKS: news, chart, profile), which lost 68 percent, or $10.86 a share, to close at $5.38 as the company felt the effects of an FDA non-approval letter sent to Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: news, chart, profile). The FDA turned down J&J's bid to bring to market an injectable version of the company's schizophrenia drug treatment, Risperdal Consta. J&J was to have used Alkermes' Medisorb drug-delivery technology with Risperdal Consta. Merrill Lynch downgraded its rating on Alkermes from "neutral" to "reduce" due to concerns that the FDA decision could hamper Alkermes' plans to acquire privately held drugmaker Reliant Pharmaceuticals. J&J shares lost 3.4 percent, or $1.76, to close at $50.50. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG: news, chart, profile) lost 3 percent to close at 297.60. Merck (MRK: news, chart, profile) lost nearly 3 percent to close at $48.75 as Ivax (IVX: news, chart, profile), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA: news, chart, profile) and Eon Labs (ELAB: news, chart, profile) all received approvals for generic versions of Merck's hypertension drug Prinivil, also known as Prinzide. Merck did not challenge the patents. Ivax lost 1.3 percent to close at $10.66; Teva fell nearly 2 percent to finish at $65.56 and Eon Labs shed 2 percent to close at $17.46. Among other leading drug stocks, Pfizer (PFE: news, chart, profile) lost 3 percent to close at $33.90; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK: news, chart, profile) fell 2 1 percent to end the day at $42.38, and Eli Lilly (LLY: news, chart, profile) lost almost 5 percent to close at $53.76. The pharmaceutical industry on Monday announced it would soon be heading back to court against the Department of Health and Human Services. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) filed suit on Monday to invalidate a Michigan program approved by HHS that restricts Medicaid beneficiaries' access to certain prescription drugs unless drug makers give the state more rebates. The suit also asks that HHS secretary Tommy Thompson be blocked from approving other state programs aimed at forcing drug makers to discount their prices for public health programs. Biotechs also fall The Amex Biotech Index ($BTK: news, chart, profile) lost 7.3 percent to close Monday at 323.42. Among the sector's big names, revenue leader Amgen (AMGN: news, chart, profile) shed 8 percent, to close at $38.36; Biogen (BGEN: news, chart, profile) lost 6 percent, to close at $38.95, and Idec Pharmaceuticals (IDPH: news, chart, profile) lost 8 percent, to fall to $32.60 and Genentech (DNA: news, chart, profile) lost almost 4 percent to close at $32.25. Shares of medical diagnostics company Digene (DIGE: news, chart, profile) fell more than 21 percent Monday, to close at $9.26, after the company called off its deal to be bought by rival Cytyc (CYTC: news, chart, profile) due to FTC opposition to the merger. Cytyc planned to buy Digene in order to boost its own line of cancer screening tests. Digene has the only test approved by the FDA for human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that is involved in most cervical cancers. However, on June 24, the FTC voted to block the deal over antitrust concerns. Cytyc shares fell 4 percent, to close at $7.30, after Digene called off the merger.

To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (95)	7/3/2002 8:08:23 AM
From: SusieQ1065	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 232

07:44 ET DNA Genentech downgraded by Deutsche Securities (29.95) Deutsche Securities downgrades to MKT PERFORM from BUY based on valuation and potential near-term pipeline risk if upcoming Phase III data for Avastin in refractory, metastatic breast cancer do not support the regulatory filing; based on discussions with investigators, firm believes that DNA faces a high hurdle in meeting the primary endpoint of a 50% improvement in time-to-disease-progression for the drug. Price target is $35.