Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Heat Shock who wrote (197)	9/24/2002 6:56:28 PM
From: Heat Shock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 236

To all, Stressgen mentioned in Forbes.com article concerning Roche making deals "with a number of hot companies": forbes.com Roche Goes For Early Stage Biotechs Matthew Herper, 09.24.02, 11:30 AM ET NEW YORK - Monday, Roche, the Basel, Switzerland-based drug giant, agreed to pay as much as $220 million in milestone payments to get a new cancer drug. The experimental medicine, developed by a small, Hayward, Calif.-based pharmaceutical company called Kosan Biosciences, is still in the earliest stages of human testing. While other pharmaceutical companies have paid large amounts of cash for biotech drugs that had nearly completed human testing, Roche (otc: RHHBY - news - people ) has been sticking mostly to those that are in the earliest (phase I) or middle (phase II) stages of clinical trials. Of the eight deals Roche has done this year, only one involves a drug that has reached phase III. That deal involves an osteoporosis drug Roche invented that it is co-promoting with GlaxoSmithKline (nyse: GSK - news - people ). "It so happens that this year, the compounds that represent the kind of novel approach to medicine that we want to develop happen to be in phase I or phase II," says Dennis Burns, the head of global business development at Hoffman-La Roche, Roche's U.S.-based drug division. This approach, however, comes with its own risks. Generally speaking, the more a drug has been tested in humans, the more likely it is that it will actually reach the market. If past experience is a guide, most of the new products Roche has licensed may fail to prove both safe and effective in humans. "Do we anticipate doing deals in phase III and later? Yes, we do," says Burns. "But with an opportunity like Kosan (nasdaq: KOSN - news - people ), we don't think it would be wise to wait if they're ready to partner." That has allowed Roche to make deals with a number of hot companies focusing on basic science, including Isotechnika, a Canadian firm with new ideas about making drugs to prevent rejection during organ transplants, and Memory Pharmaceuticals, the brain-disease company founded by Nobel laureate Eric Kandel (See: "Viagra For The Brain.") Here are some of Roche's investments: Roche Buys Early Drugs With Lots of Risk Company Research Stage Purpose Of Drug ICN Pharmaceuticals Pre-Clinical (no human testing) Helps treat hepatitis C Vernalis Pre-Clinical Treats obesity Medivir Pre-Clinical Treats HIV Memory Pharmaceuticals Pre-Clinical Slows or reverses Alzheimer's disease. Gryphon Phase I (human safety tests) Treats anemia associated with chemotherapy. Vernalis Phase I Treats depression and anxiety Isotechnika Phase II (early human efficacy tests) Prevents rejection of transplanted organs StressGen Phase II Human papilloma virus (linked to cervical cancer) GlaxoSmithKline Phase III (final human testing) Osteoporosis (co-promotion of Roche drug) Heat.