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Biotech / Medical : Abgenix, Inc. (ABGX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Icebrg who wrote (291)	10/23/2003 7:02:53 AM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 590

CRGN selected another four mAbs during the quarter: Message 19426996 "...With our first antibody, CR002, expected to enter the clinic next year, this quarter we licensed from Abgenix four fully human monoclonal antibodies that were raised against CuraGen-discovered targets. These fully human monoclonal antibodies have shown high specificity for their drug targets and have promising functional data. It is our hope that the superior characteristics of fully human monoclonal antibodies, combined with targets that are selected based on their involvement in critical mechanisms of disease, will raise the probability that these antibodies show promise for clinical success."... ...These fully human monoclonal antibodies expand CuraGen's preclinical pipeline, and have shown promising data in functional models of cancer in mechanisms believed to be important to the progression of the disease...

To: Icebrg who wrote (291)	10/27/2003 3:57:18 PM
From: Icebrg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 590

Unexpected loss dampens Abgenix news By Susan L. Thomas East Bay Business Times Oct. 27 — Just days after Abgenix Inc. landed a $100 million research deal with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca PLC, the Fremont company tossed investors a lump of coal - a third-quarter loss that was far worse than Wall Street expected. But, as would be expected, Abgenix sought to focus on the positive in its conference call with investors this week. And, indeed, the Fremont firm's deals last week with AstraZeneca and a newly clarified agreement with Amgen Inc. - along with an announcement following its latest earnings report that it will soon begin pivotal Phase III trials on a key antibody - may have kept investors' fears in check, at least initially. Abgenix's stock closed at $11.90 a share, down nearly 9 percent, on Oct. 22, following an upward move of about 3 percent the day before when the company talked up its gains. The company's reported third-quarter loss was a disappointing $43.6 million or 50 cents a share compared with a net loss of $33.9 million or 39 cents a share a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected the maker of antibody therapeutics to lose 39 cents a share. Abgenix said contract revenue for the quarter was $2 million compared with $2.6 million in the same quarter last year. Including interest income, total revenue for the quarter was $4 million, down from $7.7 million a year ago. The company has yet to release results of its Phase II trials of ABX-EGF, which it is studying to treat non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer. But CEO Ray Withy said in a conference call that Abgenix would begin much-awaited Phase III trials of the antibody to treat metastatic colorectal cancer by the end of the year or early next year. Competitors closing in The decision puts the company's ABX-EGF antibody into critical trials at a time when competitors are closing in on moving similar treatments to market. "It's just a lot smarter to start the trial sooner," said David Bouchey, an analyst who follows Abgenix for C.E. Unterberg Towbin in Denver. Bouchey said Abgenix likely wanted to start the trial before Genentech Inc.'s Avastin and Im-Clone Systems Inc.'s Erbitux could reach the market. He expects Abgenix to conduct a randomized trial, of perhaps 300 patients, and aim for a response rate of 10 percent, an improvement that Bouchey believes Abgenix will reach. "I wouldn't be surprised if they could get a 20 percent response rate," he said. ImClone of New York filed for marketing approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August to sell Erbitux for the treatment of colon cancer, and the FDA accepted the application this month. Abgenix and some on Wall Street contend that ABX-EGF, which works similarly to Erbitux to shrink tumors, is safer than Erbitux. In late 2001, the FDA refused to accept ImClone's Erbitux application, noting inadequate data. The decision sparked an insider trading scandal that sent ImClone founder and then-CEO Samuel Waksal to jail and his friend, well-known domestic personality and media executive Martha Stewart, to court on charges related to her sale of ImClone shares. Still, Abgenix is clearly behind ImClone by a year or two in getting its treatment to market. Genentech also has had success with Avastin in metastatic colorectal cancer and filed for marketing approval with the FDA in September. Abgenix's deals with Amgen and Astra-Zeneca are helping investors swallow the company's third-quarter loss, according to Bouchey. The Amgen deal, for example, clarifies Abgenix's relationship with longtime partner Amgen, which is working with Abgenix to develop ABX-EGF. Rumors of Amgen takeover The relationship between the two has sparked rumors that Amgen will buy Abgenix, unsettling some investors. The new arrangement, Bouchey said, helps quell those rumors. Under the deal, Amgen's wholly owned subsidiary, Immunex, will take control of clinical development and commercialization responsibilities for ABX-EGF, while Abgenix will manufacture commercial and early supplies of the antibody. Both will continue to share program costs and profits from future sales. Once Abgenix contributes $20 mil-lion to the development costs next year, Immunex will make a $60 million loan available to the company. Immunex will forgive the loan if the therapeutic fails to make it to market. Following the earnings announcement, Withy touted the company's deal with AstraZeneca. "This is an incredibly valuable alliance for Abgenix," he said. "We're talking about a very significant amount of total potential revenue." AstraZeneca will make a $100 million upfront equity investment in Abgenix and then Abgenix will receive royalty and milestone payments based on the two companies' developments of cancer treatments. Withy said he expects Abgenix will reap "hundreds of millions" of dollars through the collaboration. "The AstraZeneca deal is pretty sweet," Bouchey said. "I have never seen a deal that big before." famulus.msnbc.com