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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Icebrg who wrote (8433)	5/20/2003 2:14:02 PM
From: Biomaven	Respond to of 52153

Anyone follow Aeterna? Reuters Aeterna shares lifted by rival cancer drug data Tuesday May 20, 1:01 pm ET TORONTO, May 20 (Reuters) - Aeterna Laboratories Inc. (Toronto:AEL.TO - News; NasdaqNM:AELA - News) shares soared as much as 24 percent on Tuesday, after strong test data for a rival's anticancer treatment raised expectations of positive results for a similar product being developed by Aeterna. ADVERTISEMENT [] Aeterna stock was up 85 Canadian cents at C$6.70 just after midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange (News - Websites) after earlier pushing as high as C$7.27. The stock last hit those levels almost a year ago, and has fallen as low as C$3 since then. On Nasdaq, the stock was up 23 cents at $4.95. On Monday, rival biotechnology company Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA - News) said a late-stage trial showed its colon cancer drug, Avastin, extended life far longer than expected, potentially marking a dramatic breakthrough in treatment. Avastin is the first of a new class of drugs to treat cancer by inhibiting a protein known as vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, which plays an important role in stimulating the growth of new blood vessels to tumors. The news was good for Aeterna, whose Neovastat drug is considered by some to be the most advanced of the experimental drugs that specifically target VEGF. Neovastat is currently in late stage trials for kidney cancer and lung cancer. "Positive results of Avastin, one of the four major anti-angiogenic drugs in late-stage development, have increased our confidence in the upcoming data for Neovastat," Paradigm Capital Inc. said in a morning note. "We think that Neovastat possesses several features that maybe make it a better anticancer drug than Avastin." Peter